Discordant
by Heather Sinclair
Summary: It wasn't the bright and shiny Jewel of the Galaxy you've all seen on the HoloNet. Harry's story started in the Underworld, a kilometer below the upper levels of Coruscant, where you never walk the streets alone, especially if you don't have a blaster hanging by your side. He left for a little while, but now it's called him back, whether he realizes it or not.
1. Chance Meetings

**Note: **The copyrights of the character and universe in this story belong to JK Rowling and Disney. Any comments, questions, or reviews are welcome.

**Chapter 1**

_16:2 GrS (19 BBY)_

"You're Harry'potter, the bounty hunter."

She pronounced my name like that, like any number of species that use apostrophes instead of separating the two names like normal people. Twi'lek are that way on their homeworld. Sometimes I think they do things like this to make themselves sound more exotic or something.

You don't see very many bald human women these days. The occasional one is found, usually in the music or movie industries, but typically they tend to just have very close cropped hair. This one though, she was completely, unequivocally without a hair on her head, from what I could see, save for a set of very thin, highly arched, eyebrows.

The woman didn't wait to be asked before she slid onto the seat opposite me while I slid my drink to the side. From the pair of curved lightsaber hilts attached to her big circular belt buckle I assumed she was a Jedi of some type. Her eyes weren't the red/yellow most times associated with Sith, but that didn't really mean much while there was a war going on.

The Separatists tended to hire any sort of thug and that meant failed Jedi as well. I've seen it happen before, taken down two of them as well. They were between me and my bounty at the time, and they weren't too experienced defending against magic either. I've got the lightsaber hilts to prove it if you're the disbelieving sort. I like collecting things of an esoteric type. You never know when they'll come in handy.

"And you are?" I said as I raised my voice loud enough to be heard over the bad cantina music an out of date Bith band played.

Her seriously pale blue eyes tracked a beige-robed Bothan as he ashed his death stick while passing us. The sharp smell tended to stick around in the still air. Narsk was old and in the same business I was. He only took the easy jobs these days, because of his artificial leg. They cost serious credits to replace and his had been giving him trouble after taking a plasma arrow to the knee while on a particularly trying hunt.

The bald woman ignored my question in lieu of adjusting her own black hood to cover more of her face. "I'm told you can make people… disappear."

This was getting old. I didn't know how many times I'd been approached by Republic and Separatist spies. It was quick money, but there was no fun in altering someone's face and changing their skin color. Sometimes I was asked to make a talisman for less permanent changes, but that was about it. There was no challenge anymore in this galaxy.

"I've heard that too. Depends on whom, not to mention how much you're willing to pay."

Her eyes narrowed when she scowled. It wasn't a pretty sight. As long as her face was neutral she was what I would call exotic looking. Good for a one night stand or even a spaceport fling now and again, but not much else. It's the exotic ones that are seriously ugly when they get older. I mean one minute you're thinking that you've hit the jackpot, because she's got a hot body and can swallow your goods while she's breathing out the side of her neck, and the next thing you know it's ten years later and you're waking up next to a Hutt. For the most part I leave the exotic ones alone – unless there's neck breathing going on. A wizard's got to have his standards.

"Depends on the quality of your work," she shot back at me.

I shrugged and twirled my wand underneath the table. Her skin went a dark shade of black, that really dark black that almost looks purple in the right light. She jerked and stared, virtually stunned, at her fingertips poking out of her gloves. When she pulled up her robe up baring one of her arms I got the reaction I was looking for.

"Not me," she bit off harshly. "I want someone dead, liquefied, shot out of a Corellian Light-Cruiser's waste hold, and floating in the Maw."

Giving a reverse swirl with the wand I returned her natural skin tone to the pale white it was before. If I didn't know any better I'd say she was pureblooded Dathomirian, but they were wiped out a couple of years back. I know; I was there hiding out from the orbital bombardment in a cave. Maybe she was off planet at the time. It happens. Not too often, since they tend to stick to their homeworld.

"Oh," I said. "Well then. That's something completely different."

Flipping my free hand off the table, I made a show of slowly reaching down to my utility belt and extracted a single red stone before setting it on the table between us.

"This is a truthstone. Its function is simple enough and probably self-explanatory. Tell a lie and it glows red, very soon thereafter things get unpleasant. Is your occupation in law enforcement or possibly with the Jedi?"

Her pale eyes lifted from the stone in recognition. That pretty much cemented her heritage in my mind. I learned how to make it out on Dathomir.

"No."

I've yet to encounter a species the truthstone doesn't work on. Considering her origins, no glow was good enough for me.

"I've been known to… remove certain people, but there are some that I won't touch. What's the name of the mark?"

"Count Dooku."

A snort worked its way out before I had a chance to stop. "Dooku? The leader of the Separatists? The Sith Dooku?"

"Yes."

She was serious. That was bad. I've lived this long because I know my limits. The days of going head to head with people that like to call themselves Dark Lord are long past.

"Just out of curiosity's sake, how much is the assassination of a Darth running these days?"

Her eyes tracked to the left again as another beige-robed figure walked past the table. You're really hard-pressed to find any other color on this planet. Sometimes cloaks run in brown, but for the most part people like beige.

"I have access to twenty-million Republic credits."

That wasn't a number to scoff at, but I wasn't really interested. "Credits don't really mean much on the Outer Rim with transaction trails and such. You're on Tatooine. We deal in gold, precious metals, jewels, spacecraft… or esoteric items that can't be found at every port on the Rim."

She grit her teeth and hissed as she revealed that scowl again, but then the tension showing on her face eased. "I have access to a heavily modified Star Courier: solar ionization canons, point five rated hyperdrive, Stygium cloaking device, thrust trace dampeners, and much more. It was worth fifty-five million credits when it was new and it's never been in a single battle."

That got my attention. I needed a new ship and that one sounded sweet; small, heavily armed, and with a cloaking device. However, that sounded a little too good to be true.

"And how quickly would I be detained by Republic forces when they found out it was stolen?"

The woman leaned back, a bored look dropping over her face. "If you can't change a registry and fake a bill of sale then obviously I have the wrong person for the job."

It was true. Like I said before, this was the Outer Rim, in Hutt Space no less. If it wasn't stolen and passed off as legitimate under scrutiny in the first place, your reputation was crap. That's pretty much how I acquired my first ship.

"Will you do it or not?"

Kill a Sith Lord? It was probably a revenge thing. Then it finally clicked as to who I was talking to. "I'm not an assassin, but I can get you close enough to do the job yourself, Miss Ventress."

Her hands slid onto her lap, probably very close to her lightsabers. "I was told…"

"Your sources misunderstand. I've killed some very powerful people, but they're the ones that sought me out, or ones that had a legitimate bounty on their heads. What I can do is get you into his presence, within a single meter if you want, without him knowing. The rest is up to you."

"He's Sith. He'll sense our presence – your presence at least. I am talented enough to mask my own."

"As am I." Taking the truthstone I returned it to my pouch. "Miss Ventress, I know you to be a singularly talented individual. Going head to head with a number of Jedi and walking away, much less killing – what is it now? Five, six?"

"Seventeen."

That brought me up short. My own surprise was evident. "I stand corrected. Anyway, Dooku has a reputation with his lightsaber. I have… well friends would be too much – business acquaintances would be better, that have been cut down by him, not to mention that little trick he has with the blue lightning out of his fingertips."

"The rumor was that you didn't fear anything," she said.

I didn't take the bait. "My point is that it would be my pleasure to help you… _dispose_ of the Count. The trouble is knowing where he'll be next. I assume you have access to this knowledge."

Reaching into her jerkin beneath her robes, Ventress pulled out a data pad and thumbed up the display before sliding it across the table. I glanced at it for a moment and recognized the floor plan to the monastery of the B'omarr Order, otherwise known in these parts as Jabba the Hutt's Palace.

The monks that built the place wanted to detach themselves from the universe, and they did. When they achieved a certain level of training and enlightenment they'd have their brains surgically removed and placed in these round containers, where they were hooked up to some type of life support to keep it functional. This was so they could achieve total sensory detachment and contemplate whatever it is bodiless brains contemplate.

Occasionally they like to move around, and their containers are placed in a giant spider like exoskeleton. That creeped me out the first time I saw one moving about.

Jabba is a fairly decent source of income when he's not being a sloth-like ass, which is becoming more of a thing these days. There's nothing worse than a crime boss who's bored, fat, and has a fetish for Twi'lek slave girls. Tatooine, while being a desert shithole, used to be known as a hub for smugglers and bounty hunters to congregate and seek work. These days it's more of a place to get shot for marginally offending someone. It's really gone downhill since Jabba stopped making public appearances. Assassination attempts; they come and go. I give it a couple more years and he'll be out there leaving slime trails behind him once again.

"Tricky, but not by any means impossible," I said passing the datapad back. "You just can't get caught."

"Obviously."

"No, you don't understand. Jabba likes to make examples of anyone that breaks into his palace. The Order of B'omarr is still active in the bowels of that place. They pay rent to Jabba by randomly transplanting brains of trespassers into other random bodies. Screw up and you can only hope you wind up in the body of a humanoid."

One of her eyebrows lifted.

"I once knew a Falleen Black Sun gangster whose brain wound up in the head of a Twi'lek prostitute. Jabba sold him to a rival syndicate at a discount. The point is, if you're caught, you might want to think about just blowing your head off… if that's where your brain is I mean."

You couldn't take these sorts of things for granted in this galaxy.

"Perhaps I've come to the wrong person," she said dryly. "You're far too neurotic for my tastes."

"Just cautious; it's a reasonable trait considering my choice in occupation."

"Yes or no?" Ventress was beginning to get impatient. "Dooku will be here in less than a week to negotiate safe passage for Separatist vessels with the Hutt."

My gut said to pass on the job, but my aging hyperdrive said do it or I'll scatter your pieces across the Corellian Hyperspace Route. There was a reason I was semi-stranded on this planet.

She relaxed her posture, but kept a steely glare on me. "If you can accomplish this then I'll have two more missions for you."

That one was easy to figure out, considering battles between two specific Jedi and the assassin Asajj Ventress were all over the HoloNews every other day. "I'll have to decline on those, I'm afraid. Messing with Jedi is bad Karma. I'm gathering that you already know this and this is why you've sought outside assistance."

The mere mention of the word _assistance_ seemed to grate on her nerves. I had a feeling she was used to being self-sufficient. "Docking bay thirteen; one hour. We will determine a plan of action as soon as possible."

~O~

There really wasn't much to plan. Dooku would most likely be by himself inside the palace, if the rumors of his arrogance held true. Bib Fortuna and a couple of Gamorreans would escort him to Jabba's showroom for the inevitable posturing on both sides. The bulk of guards, bounty hunters, and so forth would be in that room, so it was to our advantage to take care of things right at the beginning. Apparate in, hack and slash, Disapparate out, collect the ship, and make myself scarce for a couple of years until Jabba cools down and enough to see reason.

The Hutts, while having a long memory for those that embarrass them, are more pragmatic in the end. I'm much more valuable as an asset than as an enemy; then again it might be me that's the arrogant one. Besides, it wasn't that long ago when the Sith had his son kidnapped for leverage on this very same issue. He might just pat me on the back for disposing of an annoying problem.

When I eventually rounded on docking bay thirteen I found a very sleek ship. The command module was a globe in the rear, saddled by two folded tie wings, and a long nose up front. It was difficult to imagine that all the specs she listed were crammed into a twenty-five to thirty meter long ship, but it looked state of the art. I'd definitely have to get under the bonnet and take a look around.

"You're late."

With a glance at my chrono I looked over to the loading ramp where Ventress was standing with her arms by her sides. "Thirty-seven seconds? You're not going to be this anal in the future, are you?"

She looked toward the blast doors that led to Mos Espa's streets and then jerked her thumb to the interior of the ship. "Inside."

"Expecting company?"

"The longer my presence goes unnoticed, the less likelihood Dooku will be alerted beforehand."

The inside was nice and clean, but small: four doors on one side and three on the other. Down the center was a closed door that I assumed led to storage and/or maintenance crawl spaces. Ventress tapped the control for the boarding ramp and then turned to tap another control to open the center door on the right, a lift.

She kept mostly quiet while we ascended to the upper of only two decks. I did notice that she spent that short amount of time looking me over, probably for hidden weapons. When the lift door slid open, Ventress stepped out while I took at the passenger area, consisting of a few seats with a holo transmitter situated in the middle. To the right were the pilot's console and only one chair on rails.

"Where did you acquire the truthstone?"

It was natural that she would recognize something from her home planet, but there were problems that came along with this knowledge.

"Dathomir. I spent some time with a couple of clans there for a few years."

Ventress scoffed. "I doubt that."

After shifting my utility belt so it would be more comfortable, I dropped down on the furthest most seat away from the lift and stretched my legs out. "_Four years with the Singing River Clan, while I learned Paecian, and a few months with the Nightsisters_. _Augwynne Djo, of Singing River, liked me well enough, just as long as I kept having sex with her daughter and taught them some of my skills. Talzin of the Nightsisters was impressed by me, but Old Daka wouldn't hear of having a _man_ learn any of their lore, even one that could match her spell for spell."_

Speaking to her in Paesian seemed to shut her up about that particular topic, but hearing that I actually spent time in the Nightsister stronghold and was still alive probably threw her off.

"A male witch? There is no such thing."

I shrugged. "That you know about. It's not like a stern matriarchal society would come right out and say that inferior men occasionally had the same powers as they did. That's where rebellions are born."

That revelation seemed to shift her into a different mindset as she took me in once more.

The Witches of Dathomir were severely matriarchal. That may sound odd, seeing as most of the time the males of a species were physically stronger. The likelihood of women being in charge to the point of men being treated like second or even third class citizens was improbable. Testosterone seems to be a universal hormone which allows men the advantage, except where things like the Force or Magic come into play.

That's what I walked into when Allaya Djo dropped an incredibly strong net over me as I was running away from a particularly large rampaging rancor. The next thing I knew I was waking up in a cave with her on top of me declaring that she had captured me fair and square; I was claimed by her as her husband. Of course I didn't understand a word she was saying at the time. All I knew was I in a pretty comfortable bed with an equally pretty woman bouncing up and down on me.

It took a few months to figure out the language enough to realize what I had gotten myself into.

"Is this how you plan to infiltrate the Hutt's palace? It won't work. Dooku can smell Force magic."

"Seeing as how I'm not a Force sensitive, I don't use the Force."

Ventress scowled at me again. I think this was becoming a regular thing, and it was giving her unattractive frown lines. "Even I know where the Witches power is derived from, Harry'potter. Don't think me ignorant about the ways of my ancestors."

This was one of the arguments I frequently got into with some of the witches on Dathomir. They called upon deities to grant them powers. With a little research I found them to be Force deities, or rather the light and the dark sides of the Force, a mystical power that is very similar to magic in a lot of ways.

"Well, believe what you like. I'm not here to debate the subject. I believe we have a plan to put together."

After giving me a measured look, Ventress pulled out her datapad and punched up a holo of Jabba's Palace on the table in front of me.

"I assume you have been inside," she said.

"Many times. Jabba will be down here on the lower level, surrounded by enough firepower to make things decidedly uncomfortable. The better odds are right here past the blast door at the entrance."

Some unintelligible grunt came out from her throat. "He'll be surrounded by IG-100 MagnaGuard's up until he enters. Not that I couldn't take care of them, but it would make things more difficult if I have to watch them and Dooku."

I shook my head. "We wait until the blast doors close, cutting them off from us. The most we'll have to worry about is a few Gamorrean guards."

She raised her sharp eyebrow to me once more. "And how do you propose to manage our escape afterward."

"Magic."

Her scowl returned. "Details, Harry'potter."

There wasn't a word in Galactic Basic for Apparition, so I improvised. "Teleportation. That's how we'll go in as well. We'll…"

"Ridiculous! Only the most powerful of the Nightsisters is even capable of such a feat."

This wasn't going to work if she second-guessed every little thing I claimed I could do. What she said was true, from her point of view. The only Nightsister that I knew of who could teleport was Talzin, the leader. An example was in order. Standing abruptly, I held out my hand as Ventress took a step away from me.

"We're not going to get anywhere with you doubting my talents. Let me show you a few things and then maybe you'll understand."

Her eyes dropped to my hand as her brow wrinkled with distaste, probably from the thought of touching me. I didn't know whether to be insulted or not.

"It'll only work for us both if you have a firm grasp on my forearm… or anywhere else, I suppose," I explained.

Pressing her lips together, she reached out and clutched my arm. "Very well."

"The ride is somewhat nauseating. Exhale before, and don't try to inhale until we've arrived. Ready?"

I twisted a little, away from her until I saw she'd emptied her lungs, and then I turned, Disapparating away. Choosing a place to reappear wasn't too difficult. Tatooine isn't very populated out in the open sands, but I wanted to be close enough to Mos Espa so she would recognize the settlement. When we reappeared, I watched as her eyes narrowed against the suns while she sucked in a strained breath from the unsettling feeling of the teleportation.

When I pointed toward Mos Espa her head jerked up, but she didn't have a single thing to say.

"My idea is to wait until Dooku arrives and then teleport into Jabba's Palace, right at the entrance. Cloak us like this," I said as I whacked myself over the head with my wand tip and virtually disappeared from her sight. "And then wait until his back is to us for you to do your thing. I assume you'll be using your lightsabers at some point."

While I was speaking, she held out a hand and felt for my presence, eventually brushing against my arm. Intense envy was crossing her face. I could see where this little trick could have come in handy over her career as an assassin for the Sith.

"I'll cover your back while you purée the Count to your satisfaction and then we'll teleport directly back to the ship and leave the planet. I wouldn't suggest returning for the conceivable future. Jabba is pretty paranoid about his security and the few times that it fails."

When we returned to the ship, Ventress eyed my wand as she sat to regain her composure. "Is that cloaking token from Dathomir as well?"

I disappeared my wand back in its place, up my sleeve. "It's a focus, not a token and I can make it do a lot more than make us disappear."

"I could still see you," she said begrudgingly. "Admittedly, it was difficult."

With a nod, I stretched out my legs again. "It's called Disillusionment; very good for low light stealth action, but not much else. Your lightsabers won't be masked once you ignite them, so make your timing count."

Watching her like this I could tell the wheels were spinning in her head, probably about all the chaos the two of us could cause, or maybe revenge on someone else that had ticked her off.

"Very well, Harry'potter. I agree to your plan. Dooku's ship is scheduled to arrive at nightfall. I would suggest we be in place a few hours before so as to not attract undue attention… unless you have some sort of way in knowing when he arrives."

I did, but she didn't need to know that. Revealing my ability to appear anywhere while invisible was exposing more than enough secrets as it was.

"Sounds good to me. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get on with falsifying a decent transaction trail for the ship, so I don't get nabbed by any Republic patrols."

Ventress nodded as her eyes slid away.

"By the way, where did you get it – so I can avoid that particular space port in the future?"

"Naboo," she replied.


	2. Magic Doesn't Equal Force

**Note: **_Disclaimer in first chapter. Thanks to those of you that left comments and or questions. I appreciate them._

**Chapter 2**

Spending three hours under a camouflaged tarp at the mouth of a horseshoe canyon on the Northern Dune Sea wasn't my idea of how to spend an afternoon. Add some sweltering heat that even a standard Cooling Charm couldn't ease, and a bad tempered ex-Sith assassin by my side – yeah, I was having a grand ol' time. What annoyed me was that she wasn't even sweating. The woman was dressed neck to toe in light combat armor and a black floor-length skirt. How could she not be suffocating in that mess?

It was times like these that I berated myself for not paying attention more in school. Hermione would probably know fifteen different charms up to and including having snow fall in a fifteen foot radius all around me. The only charms I knew that would be helpful at the moment would encase me in ice. While I might feel infinitely better, it was a little overkill.

The biggest lesson I learned in my entire life came upon me moments after realizing I was stuck in this galaxy: be able to rely on myself and only myself if worse comes to worse. I didn't own one of those infinitely packable handbags Hermione carried around with her even after the Battle of Hogwarts. Sure, the pockets on my robes were expanded, usually so I could carry an extra sandwich or two if I was out in the field with Ron on assignment.

I had all the standard tools of the Auror trade with me, but even then, it's been years. My potions supply dried up long ago, and it's really difficult to make new ones when I have to travel half the galaxy in order to find a specific plant or a reasonable substitute. Even those substitutes wind up having weird effects sometimes. I could make a decent Blood Replenishing Potion, but it turns my skin neon pink for just under two weeks. Try explaining that one to the girl you're sleeping with at the time. She thought I contracted some funky STD from my time spent in Hutt space. Women…

The first of Tatooine's suns had already dipped below the horizon as I sucked on the last of my bottled water and tossed the container to the side. "Remind me to bring a cooling unit the next time we're on a desert stakeout together. Merlin, this planet sucks. Nar Shaddaa is a much more temperate planet, moon, whatever. Of course, the smog and whatever nasty plague they have running roughshod at any time may make it seem inhospitable, but at least I can find a decent noodle bar on every street corner."

Ventress's attention never wavered from the macrobinoculars as she kept continuous surveillance on the consistently closed blast door of the Palace. I don't know what she was looking for. The only time that door opens is when someone arrives or when someone leaves. They don't just open it willy-nilly to have a relaxing drink on the veranda and watch the sand blow from one side to the other. I was quite familiar with how Jabba ran his business. He was most likely lounging about down in his party room, inhaling some type of live aquatic snack of some kind, while a lime green Twi'lek was dancing away to some awful cantina music.

Lime green – I mean really – what kind of skin color is that? I like my Twi'leks in more of a darker shade of blue or maybe a nice purple.

"Cease your blathering," Ventress finally spoke. "He is here."

"Finally!" Scrambling to my knees, I leaned down enough to see Dooku's ship come in from the east while my companion readied herself. "Alright. I'm disillusioning us before we go in. We can still be heard so keep that in mind when… hold on."

Even with the naked eye, a kilometer away, I could see Jabba's massive bulk taking up most of the area right behind the open blast doors. Ventress obviously saw what I was gaping at as she retrieved her macrobinoculars to take a closer look.

An annoyed grunt sounded in her throat. "Thirty-seven Gamorreans, twelve heavily armed bounty hunters, three mobile ion cannons in the shadows…"

I sighed and wiped the dripping sweat off my face. "Okay, so maybe Jabba is feeling more paranoid than usual."

Ventress scowled and threw a look at me. "You said you were aware of how he does business."

With a shrug I tried not to let her know how screwed I felt. "This doesn't change anything major. You'll just have to make the kill quick instead of poking him endlessly with your lightsabers. Can you do that?"

She scoffed at me. "We wouldn't stand a chance against those forces and the ones Dooku is bound to have, not to mention Dooku himself. The deal is off, Harry'potter."

"Let me worry about getting you in and out. They'll need to have a few seconds to aim and fire their weapons. We'll be directly behind the Count; you ignite your sabers the moment we appear, lop off his head, and we pop right back out again – three seconds tops."

I watched as her lips firmed and she took another look through the binoculars, probably mentally arguing with herself and measuring the odds of surviving.

"You can do this?" she asked for clarification. "You don't need time to gather your magic or time to rest?"

With a grin I shook my head. "It doesn't work like that, and yes, I can do this. Can you keep it together through the nausea?"

"Please," she shot back, annoyed at the insinuation.

"Well then, let's go kill ourselves a Count."

Ventress immediately pulled both her lightsabers and then most likely remembered that she had to be holding onto me for the Apparition portion of the evening. I gave her an alternative.

"I'll hold onto your shoulder so you can do your business."

With a measured nod in return I watched as her thumbs hovered over the activation stubs while I cracked her over the head with my wand. Once her disillusionment was in place I did myself and then felt for her arm.

"Ready?"

"Of course."

Taking one last look and finding Dooku, I concentrated on the open space right behind him and twisted away. When we reappeared, I had my wand at the ready and banished the closest two guards to our prey. The rest of Dooku's MagnaGuards were armed with shockstaffs and they were well enough away as to not be a problem for us unless we were there for more time than I allocated.

The snap-hiss of Ventress's lightsabers were timed virtually perfect as they ignited during the middle of a downward stroke, but Dooku ducked to the side lighting his own saber, smoothly blocking her attack.

"Dammit," I cursed.

I had just enough time to glance in Jabba's direction and see him hold up a thick flappy arm, stalling his guards. His booming laugh echoed off canyon walls. That was good enough for me. Sweeping my wand around, I blasted three converging MagnaGuards while Dooku was taunting my employer.

"And you wonder why I had you fitted with those rage inducing implants, my dear Asajj. You simply do not have the proper mindset to be a true Sith and you never will."

With Jabba holding off, this was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. There were only five MagnaGuards, two of which didn't seem to be reacting well to my magic. Sparing a second, I shot some conjured ropes toward Dooku's legs, hoping to trip him up enough for Ventress to finish this. He anticipated my involvement right at that second. Merlin, I hated Force sensitives that knew what they were doing.

The bad part was, he flipped high into the air and forward, directly over Ventress, blocking her attempt to eviscerate him in the process and swung his lightsaber right at me. I barely had a chance to bring up a shield which was shattered the second his blade hit, but at least it threw his aim off far enough for me to dive to the side.

That was it. We'd been there far too long and I didn't trust Jabba's curiosity and amusement enough to hold off much longer. I couldn't wait for him to come to the conclusion that he was better off killing us all than deal with the victor. Besides, I had more than enough hate in me, for what Dooku had done to friends of mine in order to deal out my chosen curse.

"_Crucio_!"

There wasn't any jet of light to block with his lightsaber, and the Force shield he threw up went down as quick as my own magical variety, before he was struck and sent screaming to his knees. Ventress wasted little time bringing her own sabers down cleaving into Dooku's torso on either side of his neck and through his body. I was momentarily enthralled and somewhat disgusted while I watched his arms fall away and his head topple off what remained of his shoulders a second later. Then I remembered I had something else I should be concentrating on.

Lunging forward I grabbed her shoulder tightly, I spun away again, Apparating onto the flight deck of the _Gimlet_.

"We're in Mikki," I said to MK-K1, the MK-Series maintenance droid I had from the _Clunker_, my previous ship. "Get us out of here."

"On it, Boss!"

Ventress turned to face me when I let go of her. This was usually the prime time for betrayal from an employer, at least in my experience. They'd gotten what they came for and sometimes shoot you in the back so they don't have to pay.

The deck pitched a little when we rose off the ground and started heading into the atmosphere. My wand was still ready, by my side as we looked at each other for a few moments. When it was clear I was ready for whatever she had planned, if anything, she tuned and hit the tab for the lift.

"I'll be in my quarters. Alert me when we reach Brentaal, unless you've reconsidered my offer for an extended arrangement."

She left that hanging in the air. I didn't even think twice. Hanging around her would get me killed; I knew that and she knew that. "Thanks anyway."

With a slight grunt she disappeared into the lift and I stowed my wand away with a sigh of relief.

"No luck bagging the bald chick, Boss?"

I almost snorted. The MK-Series droids had a heuristic processer so it could learn from its mistakes and adapt to virtually any kind of situation it might encounter. The problem was they tended to develop personality quirks. Mikki apparently didn't have a mouth filter, or since it didn't really have a mouth, a vocabulator filter would probably be a better term.

His trapezoidal metal head swung around on a thin, hinged, stalk-like neck and he stared at me with his one red eye. "I detect movement in the fresher area. You could probably try again."

"Thanks," I replied as I leaned over the console. "I'd like to keep my bollocks right where they are. How long until we make Brentaal?"

Reaching out, I was about to tap on the Navcomputer display when one of Mikki's arms shot out a mild electric jolt. "Hands off the goods, Boss. You finally got me a decent ship to fly. There's no way I'm letting you near the controls."

"I'm not _that_ bad."

He emitted a noise that vaguely sounded like someone clearing their throat. "Who was it again that brought us out of hyperspace far too close to the gravity well of Nar Shaddaa and wound up killing the atmospheric engines, plummeting us to certain death?"

Pointing my finger at him I shot back, "That was a Navcomputer mistake and you know it."

"And who was it that got the engines back online right as we tore off the head off of Karagga the Hutt's celebration statue right in the center of the Promenade, saving our lives in the process?"

Spinning around I headed to the lift. "It was ten years ago, Mikki."

"It's also the reason I'm the pilot and you're the help. Oh, and it's five point seven hours to Brentaal IV; more than enough time to show off your human propensity for hormonal intercourse."

"What does that even mean?" I managed to get out before the door closed in my face.

I really had to do something about the multiple personality disorder thing he had going on. Most of the time Mikki is polite enough, but if I come anywhere near the pilot's seat or anything that has to do with the engines, he goes all snarky on me. The problem was, he was very good at his job, and I'd hate to lose all that experience with a mindwipe setting him back to factory specs.

Of course, my luck being as it was, I timed it perfectly to where the door to the fresher slid open at the exact same moment as the door to the lift. Ventress's eyes narrowed at me as she stepped out wearing a dark gray robe clinging to her every curve. There was no way I was stupid enough to make even the most casual comment.

"Five and a half hours to Brentaal."

Without breaking stride she headed to her cabin. "I will be sleeping. If you value your ability to procreate, do not disturb me."

~O~

The personal cabins on the _Gimlet_ were small to say the least. One reasonably firm cot-like bed, a small closet, and a much smaller desk filled up most of the space. I could enlarge it, but it would take time and a lot of effort from Mikki to reroute anything resembling electrical conduits from the walls. Considering how small the ship was, that was saying something.

Whatever this galaxy used to shield electronics worked well enough so that my magic rarely interfered with the day to day life around me. It was when I messed with them directly where problems occurred. I thought I was smart the first and only time I expanded the cargo hold on the _Clunker_. I was stranded for three months making repairs and replacing so many power couplings that I went broke before I even made my first trip off the surface of Coruscant.

It was just another in a long line of mistakes that Mikki has never let me hear the end of.

Now that the mission was over and the _Gimlet _was officially and unofficially mine, I could unpack a thing or two. My old YG-series light freighter was sold as scrap and the gold used to pay off my slicer friend for the new registration on this one. In the end, I was happy for something reliable that I didn't have to sink in all of my earnings every month, and Mikki was deliriously happy to fly something newer than seventy-five years old.

Pulling out a fresh bodyglove and a pair of pants I dropped my bag on the bed and made way to the sonic. That was one thing I was going to miss about leaving the _Clunker_ behind. It had an honest to goodness water shower. While the sonic equivalent was supposedly better, there's nothing like planting my forehead against the wall and letting hot water pound down my back. Well, that and sonic showers take all of a few seconds to get the job done. Overall, it's quite a disappointing experience, but at least it gets the sand out of the crack of… nevermind.

When I opened the door I wasn't expecting to see a pensive Asajj Ventress leaning up against the jamb of her cabin. To tell the truth, I don't think I've seen anything on her face other than anger and disdain since we met. She slid her eyes up to meet mine and I didn't know if I should panic and close the door on the off chance she found me worth shagging. She has that whole black widow vibe going on, and while it's been a couple of weeks since I've had that kind of workout, I'd much rather not be right in the middle of the act and feel her lightsaber poking me in the chest.

"What did you do to Dooku, there at the end?"

"Oh… that." I was somewhat relieved it was curiosity that brought her out of the cabin. "It's called the Cruciatus Curse; think of it as my version of that blue lightning the Sith use."

Her eyes went half-lidded as she shifted and crossed her arms. "Not too long ago, he was able to use Force absorb – he could channel the lightning I threw at him and return it with little effort and with no harm to himself. Why couldn't he do the same with your Cruciatus Curse?"

With a shrug I dragged my fingers through my hair. "Maybe he was distracted. You _were_ bearing down on him at the time. He threw up a shield right when I shot the curse. Bad choice of defensive tactics, perhaps. I couldn't tell you."

Ventress just wouldn't let the topic go. She seemed far too interested in what I could do. "And the ropes? You weren't carrying anything with you save for that stick and your utility belt."

"Miss Ventress, I think we've already addressed this issue. You know the answer."

"Magic," she said simply. "I've seen what the elders of my clan can do. You perform this magic as if there is no effort whatsoever. Even Talzin could not implement her magic without conjuring the spirit ichor. She was drained with each successive spell cast, much like a Force sensitive is weary after performing feat after feat without rest. You don't even blink."

With a single nod I concurred. "As I said before, I'm not a Force sensitive. I've been tested. They called me a null."

"Bah! How do you do this!" she snapped, barely short of a yell. "I must know. Is it the stick?"

I sighed; as I've been through this conversation more times that I can count. Dathomirian Witches are a particularly stubborn lot. "The stick is a focus, as I said before. Here; hold on a moment."

Ventress pulled her lips together tightly and returned to her place against the door jamb, looking as if she was having a difficult time controlling her temper. When I entered my room the door shut behind me, and I grabbed my bag to pull out my two extra wands which I earned in duels past.

"If you have any magic at all within you then this will do something," I said upon my return. "What? I have no idea, but it will do something."

She looked at it critically before saying, "That's not the one you used before."

With a minor put upon glare I adjusted my grip and conjured a pillow in front of her. Ventress blinked and looked at the wand for a moment before tapping at the pillow with her foot.

"It's real," she whispered.

"Very. Now, would you like to try it?"

I flipped the wand around and stepped out of the way just in case. While there has yet to be a single person this has worked for I'd rather not lose a buttock if she was the first.

She licked her lips and held out a hand as I set the grip on her palm and watched as her pale lithe fingers curled around the hawthorn.

"Do you feel anything?" I asked.

Ventress frowned and her lips formed into her typical angry grimace. A moment later and she was waving it in front of her followed by several stabbing motions. There wasn't a single spark, no bang, and no gust of magically conjured wind.

"Gnnnn," she groaned. "The other! Give me the other!"

Swapping out the hawthorn for an oak, she did the same thing to no effect either, which simply made matters worse. I almost felt sorry for her, and probably would have if she wasn't a borderline psychopath. Certain people just shouldn't have the ability to perform magic. She wouldn't give up, however. Instead, while growling even more, she swapped hands and went through the whole process again until I reached out and stopped her.

"Miss Ventress, just like I will never know what it's like to wield one of those lightsabers with anything close to what one may consider grace, you will not be performing my style of magic." She stilled and watched my every move as I eased her hand down. "Even on my home planet very few people are born with the ability. I'd very much compare it to the chance of any particular person developing Force powers, and you know how rare that is."

Her face screwed up, and I swear I thought she was going to burst a blood vessel or something. Veins on the side of her head actually raised and faintly pulse as I watched. It was kind of gross to tell the truth. There's a reason people had hair. Then I recalled Dooku's last words to her.

"What was he talking about when he said he had implants put in you?"

Ventress blinked and shame was added to the anger, before she turned and hit the release to close the door to her cabin, shutting me out and ending our little conversation.

~O~

Mikki's squat metal body rose slightly off the two tracks that served as transportation for him as he faced me. "You only destroyed us three times during your training simulations. Have you been practicing, boss?"

I ignored him as I moved the pilot's seat over so he could connect to the computer via his interface arm.

"I especially enjoyed the combat simulation when you fired the solar ionization canons the moment you uncloaked and wound up destroying an ally."

"It's my first time," I replied. "Someone's been hogging the controls every time I'm around."

"Hmph. Your companion is awake and is making a deposit in the ship's waste hold. We will be approaching our destination in twelve minutes. Should I activate the ventilation fan? I prefer not making a poor impression with the local service droids when you open the boarding ramp and the smell of excrement drifts out the back."

With a grimace I shook out my jacket. "You're a very disturbed individual, Mikki. Watch where you point your internal sensors in the future or I'll take away all your droid porn."

His attention dropped down to the controls as he mumbling to himself. "I do not have any droid porn."

"Then why did I find datapads of Bettie-bots without their outer shell plating lying all about the _Clunker_?"

"Technical specifications," he countered. "In order to perform my job to maximum efficiency I must be aware of current technological developments."

"And the odd oily residue on the deck nearby?"

"Considering the credits you allocate for my maintenance budget, it could have been anything."

I considered that while he acted like he wasn't paying attention to me. "Have you heard anything from Teff? I sent her a message that we'd be on Coruscant today."

"Communications in hyperspace are limited, Boss. When we exit I'll make a note to check."

Teff Daru was my contact on the Galactic homeworld which was the best place to go for the upper tier bounties – at least the kind that I prefer to accept. The ones on the Outer Rim usually consist of gangsters like Jabba looking for people that have cost him serious credits. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but sometimes circumstances are unavoidable and decent people have to do things that put them in bad spots. I really don't like to be the one to nab them in the end. Instead, I much prefer to be the one to bring in the high end scum of the galaxy. It's much more satisfying, especially during a war. While causing all sorts of mayhem, war is good for business. There's no shortage of people illegally taking advantage of other people.

The lift door opened and Ventress exited, dressed in her light combat armor and black cloak, much like she was for our first meeting. She seemed subdued enough. At least she wasn't imitating a rampaging rage monster anymore.

"Status?" she asked, or more like demanded.

I glanced at my chrono. "We exit hyperspace in four minutes. Anywhere in particular you'd like to be dropped off?"

She approached Mikki from behind and looked out at the hyperspace lights racing by. "Any spaceport will suffice."

"Fair enough."

While her company left many things to be desired, I felt somewhat guilty leaving her without any transport. I'd changed considerably since my time on Earth, but one thing I'd never been able to shake off was aiding women in dire straits, even if they had the ability to chop me in little bite sized pieces with their laser swords.

"Well, we're headed to Coruscant after this if you need a ride."

Her pale eyes slid around and centered on me. "I hope you aren't considering betraying me to the Jedi."

Well, there was that. "Jedi and I don't really get along – bounty hunter scum and all. They tend to look down on people who work for a living. No, I have friends in the Underworld that are going to dress up the Gimlet just in case someone comes looking for it, and it's a good place to find work that pays well."

Ventress looked thoughtful for a moment. "Do you have any… friends that possess an MD-series medical droid that doesn't make reports to the local authorities?"

That drew my interest. Why was she interested in illegal medical procedures, and did it perhaps have to do with those implants Dooku mentioned. "Mikki?"

"Deera has three MD's over in the UED area, Boss. They're mostly used to save the high-rollers at the Outlander Club when they OD on death sticks or spice."

"Uscru Entertainment District," I clarified. "It's about five kilometers away from the Senate and another five from the Jedi Temple, if that's an issue, but we'll be underneath and they don't like to go down there too often. They might get their robes dirty and all."

She pursed her lips in annoyance for a moment. "I've been on Coruscant before."

"Ah, well then."

"Exiting hyperspace," Mikki announced. "Are we landing, boss?"

~O~

The one thing I liked about having a small ship was that I could go almost anywhere with it and not have to worry about paying outrageous docking fees. On the plus side all the questionable optional extras on the Gimlet were hidden, so we looked just like any other private Courier-class ship, intimidation-wise I mean. Coruscant Security didn't even think twice before letting us through their defense grid.

Mikki piloted us into the flow of traffic and when we came close to our destination he peeled off and dropped down a gargantuan ventilation shaft, a kilometer below the shiny upper level, down into the Coruscant Underworld.

Teff did send off a message packet for me with the latest choices of high bounty criminals to nab. I paged through the datapad discounting a few of them, because frankly I liked living far too much. Then there were the names of people who I knew worked for the Black Sun or other well established criminal syndicates. Collecting bounties on them was a good way to get your family, friends, and known associates killed in reprisals.

Granted, I had no family, very few real friends, and a boatload of associates. The latter preferred if I didn't hunt Black Sun gangsters.

Mikki took us around to the nearest port while I strapped on a DC-17 hand blaster that I picked up off a dead ARC Trooper on Geonosis. It wasn't the best out there, but I really didn't have much use for it other than as a deterrent. You don't walk around anywhere in the Underworld without a blaster or you wind up getting mugged or worse, usually worse.

When I heard the engines wind down I made my way to the lift and found Ventress waiting for me by the ramp she was lowering. The humid air was a relief after spending two weeks on a desert planet. If I took a moment to breathe it in, which I did, I could almost smell the noodle bar from across the street, not to mention a dead body somewhere in the vicinity. By the sweet and sour smell it was most likely Rodian; they have a very distinct aroma when they rot.

It was good to be back!

Ventress wrinkled her nose as her attention drifted toward me. "The location of this Deera of yours?"

"Oh, right." I pointed to the left. "Down that way, two blocks. Hang a left and it's about twenty meters on the left opposite the Outlander Club. Ask for Deera and whatever you do, don't tell her I sent you. I owe her money for reattaching my… nevermind. Just show her your bountiful credit chip and she'll be all smiles."

Without even a tear filled goodbye she spun on her heel, pulled her hood up, and strode purposefully out the hanger bay. I must be losing my touch.

"Bald chick finely gone, Boss?" Mikki said as he rolled up. "She polluted the fresher. You humanoid life forms are disgusting."

I shrugged. "Must be a Sith thing."

"Undoubtedly."

"You good with dealing on the paint job?"

"It's not actual paint," he replied. "You do realize this."

"I'm going to get some noodles and check in with Teff. Comm me when they're finished."

"Are we actually sticking around this time?"

Throwing a look over my shoulder I said. "For a while. There's always good pickings here."

~O~

Teff's storefront was right on the corner of Daring Way and Vos Gesal Street. It wasn't the most hospitable area in the Underworld, but most low end offenders knew where to get a proper bond and not get charged an arm and a leg – maybe a tentacle, but those usually grew back on most species, given time. I was insulted when I made it there without a single person giving me the once over, to see if I was worth the time and effort to rip off. It was almost civil-like.

I leave for a few months and the place gets upgraded. It was definitely a sign. Nar Shaddaa might be in my future if things had changed this much. It was here and there where most criminals sought refuge from the Republic and the Jedi, not to mention each other.

With a glance through the transparisteel window I spotted a Rutian Twi'lek arguing with an angry Devaronian. The former was Teff Daru, a person that floated between that void between friend and associate. As long as I pulled in enough of a bounty to identify, she was sweet and thankful. I made the mistake of bringing in a large jar full of liquefied remains once. It was a Celegian, who if you don't know resemble large pink jellyfish and physically don't react well against Blasting Curses. Teff was less than pleased with me on that run.

Devaronian's generally don't have pleasant dispositions, and since Satan himself seems to have been the model for their physical appearance, they don't really fit in all that well with the genteel crowd. Basically, they're a pain in the butt and get all pissy whenever they feel they've been insulted – which is often.

"Potter!"

I glanced to my left to find a middle-aged human male dressed in smuggler attire looking at me all angrily with his hand hovering over his blaster pistol which was hanging a little bit too far down his leg. I could swear that I'd seen his face from someplace, but I couldn't quite pinpoint where.

"I knew they'd send you after me," he snapped. "I'm not going down that easy."

If his hand wasn't twitching so badly over his blaster, I probably would have thought this was comical.

"Who are you again?" I asked as pleasantly as I could. Sometimes these things can be settled with an agreeable disposition – sometimes. Okay, once.

That seemed to have offended him. "You know who I am. Don't play that game with me. I know the Jedi sent you to find me. Why else would you be here at the exact same moment I come out of hiding after four months."

Ah. "See, that's where things go skewed. Jedi send their own people out to find whoever it is they're looking for. They definitely don't hire bounty hunters. That would be whatever government whose laws you broke."

The normal crowd of people that traverse Vos Gesal Street finally clued in that something was amiss and started clearing a space directly behind the idiot, probably anticipating a mess somewhat soon. Off in the distance I heard a Republic Security Droid set off its siren, which isn't anything out of the ordinary in the Underworld. Usually it involves serving an official warning and then they move on. Of course, this was the proverbial straw that broke this particular camel's back.

"You called the Tinnies on me?" he shouted incredulously. "You're not so tough after all, are you? Especially, when you not looking down the end of a blaster at me."

I dropped my wand down into my grasp and tilted slightly toward him. "Oh, shut up."

A loud bang later and magical ropes flew at him the same moment he drew his blaster. I actually missed. That doesn't happen without interference of some type. Freaking Force users, they're like a plague!

Facing him head on, I snapped off two Stunning Charms to the left and a blasting Curse to the right when he tried to dodge those. His left forearm exploded in a spray of gore along with his pistol when my magic and its power source didn't mix well. Down to the duracrete he dropped, screaming and clutching at his stump of an arm at the elbow. This time he didn't dodge the ropes using whatever telekinesis power he possessed.

The door behind me slammed open and I heard the Devaronian yell, "Son of a Murglak! That's my bounty!"

Teff snorted behind him as I stunned and set a tourniquet on the idiot, whoever he was. "Hello, Harry. I see you haven't changed much; still blowing up your bounties."


	3. Movers and Shakers

**Note: **Disclaimer in first chapter. Thanks again for your comments, reviews and questions. They are appreciated. For this story, please keep in mind that Harry isn't Force sensitive and he **doesn't** know any future events of the Star Wars universe. This isn't a **Fix it!Story**. This **isn't** a Super!Harry story. Thanks for reading.

**Chapter 3**

One of the larger downsides of my chosen profession is bringing criminals in to the authorities. If I call them for a pick-up then whoever arrives to take him into custody is the one credited with the arrest. I didn't write the law; I'm just the one who has to deal with the unpleasantness of being looked down on for being a bounty hunter. The authorities always give me the exact same look whenever I show up, as if I should be doing this out of the goodness of my heart or something equally as inane.

Jedi are worse. They actually give lectures about abusing my natural born abilities to make a profit. I'm not saying I have this massive hate-on for all things Jedi. They're usually the ones who deal with the truly terrifying things out there and don't ask for any thanks for the effort. They should be given credit. Good for them; bravo and all that.

I expound on this topic so it will be understood why I was annoyed about having to escort Dalin Kark, my one-armed psycho bounty, to the Jedi Temple. He really wasn't all that crazy after all. The Jedi really were after him and encouraged the Republic to set the bounty. Why they couldn't find him themselves, I had no idea.

That's where I had seen him, by the way. The data package Teff sent me. He was one of the bounties that I had passed on because he was a Force sensitive. I learned long ago just to skip over them in lieu of someone much easier to apprehend.

Force users that aren't part of the Jedi are too unpredictable. Since they're usually trained from toddling age, they've got about ten to twelve years of knowledge and practice honing their skills. They're taught how to make a lightsaber, and generally how to use one to great efficiency. Sometimes these same kids are tossed out of the Temple for whatever reason. Sometimes it happens much later in life, after some serious training.

I really don't understand the thought process which gave birth to the idea of training a person to control this mystical Force and then letting them loose on the galaxy at large. As I've noted a number of times already, my magic has issues with these people, whereas I like to be the one with the upper hand in violent situations.

I digress.

Teff let me rent her speeder to take Kark over to the Temple, and no matter how many times Jedi pop up left and right to say they'd _take him from here_, I never let him out of my sight until someone signed off on the transfer of custody. Of course, nobody would. That's why I was waiting by the door to the Halls of Healing, which by the way didn't really contain any Halls of note. Considering how elaborate the Temple itself was, I was somewhat disappointed.

If only the average Galactic citizen could see how their taxes were spent. Opulence wasn't a strong enough word. Hell, the lack of any sort of stench at all spoke about how much was spent on the filtration units alone. Everything appeared so incredibly sterile I almost felt the need to kick my boots off at the entrance. They probably sanitized the floors and walls at the top of every hour. Cleanliness like this just wasn't natural.

Kark was still unconscious while the healers were treating him, and I was growing ever more bored as time passed. It wasn't until I saw a large dark skinned bald man approaching, saddled by two Temple security guards that I started worrying. His face was often plastered on the HoloNet, usually during some official statement given to the media. So, obviously I recognized him immediately.

Mace Windu's face was blank of any emotion, which was fairly typical of most Jedi I've encountered when they're there to deliver news that I wasn't going to like. I didn't bother waiting for him to arrive before pulling out my datapad and bringing up the Transfer of Custody form.

"Harry Potter," he stated more than asked. It was apparent he already knew what I had for breakfast this morning and possibly the manufacturer of the bodyglove I was wearing underneath my clothes. "I need you to come with me."

As with Kark, I would try the polite approach to begin with. "Love to, really, but I'm guarding my prisoner until someone in authority will sign off on him. You wouldn't know any Jedi around with some actual pull in this place would you? Everyone keeps giving me the run-around."

He frowned slightly and looked in through the glass to see my bounty. Taking the pad, he dutifully signed and handed it back – finally. Once he assigned one of the guards to take my place we headed back toward the entrance of the Temple, but I was guessing he had another destination in mind for me.

"Is there any particular reason I'm being escorted out of here?" I asked.

"You're not being escorted out. You're being escorted to a conference room where we are going to have a chat about your activities on Tatooine just recently."

Brilliant. Stopping in the middle of the hall, I glanced at the guard and then back at Windu. "Am I being arrested?"

"Detained," he answered. "For questioning; concerning the assassination of Count Dooku."

I just raised an eyebrow at him. Jedi had this gift, much like Legilimency, where they can tell if someone is lying to them. I'm not exactly sure on the particulars of how they do it, but I'm guessing it's Force related, which means it can be countered by magic. While I wasn't a master at the technique, I'd learned enough Occlumency over the years to know when someone's trying to get into my head, and temporarily keep them out. I still wasn't up to Snape's standards, but which one of us is alive and which one of us is rotting away in a crypt on Earth?

"Dooku," I countered. "He was killed recently? I'm guessing on Tatooine?"

The guard shifted slightly and gestured with his weapon. "Move along, and keep your hands where we can see them."

I glanced back at him. "Your welcoming committee at the front door took my blaster."

Windu didn't even bother with any subtly. "We're well aware of your abilities, Potter."

That was a crock. If he was so aware then my wand would have been confiscated as well – if they could find it that is. The same Cushioning Charm I used for the insoles on my boots, for times I spent on stake outs for the Ministry, works wonders on my forearm holster during pat-downs.

I chose not to say anything until I got a better read on what evidence they had. It wouldn't surprise me to find out one of the bounty hunters under Jabba's thumb sold the information to authorities. Jabba himself might have done it as a favor to be paid back later or simply just to stay out from under Republic scrutiny and off the Confederacy radar.

What I wanted to know was how anyone knew it was specifically me at the scene. The ability to cloak one's self, while rare, isn't unheard of. Windu himself could probably do it, probably while performing half a dozen other rarely used techniques. There was a reason he was Head of the Jedi Order.

What I wondered was why I was being given all this special treatment. Surely they had Jedi flunkies to handle escorting duties. Perhaps someone thought I was a threat and they decided to send their big gun after me. On the other hand, there was a war going on and the regular rank and file Jedi were out amongst the galaxy embroiled in battles of their own. Apparently, they were all Generals of the clone forces fighting against the droid armies of the Confederacy. I don't know how many times I turned on the HoloNews to see General _enter random Jedi name here_ being all heroic and dashing for the folks back home. There were hundreds of them.

Perhaps that's why the Temple seemed so sparsely populated at the moment. Occasionally I'd see a robed person down one of the branched off halls as we passed or even a couple passing us as they gave a nod to Windu and eyed me with suspicion.

"Is this conference room really small, with uncomfortable chairs, a broken air circulator, and are there going to be shackles involved," I asked as blatantly curious as I could manage.

Windu spared me a mildly incredulous glance. "We do not do that sort of thing here."

Thankfully, we reached our destination as he waved his hand at the door and it opened of its own accord. I was presented with what appeared to be some sort of large conference room – imagine that. Taking a wild guess I would assume this would be a place where they take visitors, official or otherwise, when they don't want them in the depths of the temple itself. There was no telling what sort of sordid Force practices that were going on behind closed doors in this place. Wink wink, nudge nudge.

"Man, you guys get the best views," I commented as I approached the transparisteel walls and looked out over the vast landscape of buildings that cover the entire surface of Coruscant. "You know what I see from my flat? A dark alley that might or might not have a Republic Security Droid harassing someone ten meters away. Not that they don't deserve it most times. Spice addicts; what can you do?"

"You can return to your duties," Windu said, dismissing the guard.

I glanced over my shoulder at the two of them. Jedi were difficult to peg down most times. They rarely show aggressive emotions save if you threaten them with bodily harm, and unless they're fresh out of their training, they rarely have a sense of humor.

"So…"

Windu motioned to one of the chairs at the table while I gave the room a once-over. Security cameras were likely squirreled away where I couldn't see them, so whipping out my wand, performing an Obliviate, and Disapparating away was out of the question. I'd have to play this one very carefully for the time being.

"Tell me about your time spent on Tatooine," he began.

I shrugged and kept my hands on my lap, under the table. "Not much to tell. The _Clunker_, my YG-series ship, had an aging hyperdrive on its last legs. I was there to see if I could pick one up or if I couldn't then maybe I could find a different ship. Met up with someone, they were looking to unload one. I bought it, sold the _Clunker_ for scrap, and then came back here looking for work."

The presence of his mind was right on the edge of mine, but I was satisfied that my occluding was holding firm and keeping him from discerning truth from falsehood. The fact that I wasn't lying at the moment probably helped.

"You were there for over two weeks."

Bunching up my eyebrows in concern, I put on the appearance of mild paranoia. "Jedi are keeping tabs on down on their luck bounty hunters now? I thought you guys were in the middle of a war."

Windu laced his fingers together on the table and then leaned on his elbows as he presented his stern face. "Let's put all our cards on the table, shall we?"

I grinned in response. "Let's."

"We've had reports of an undocumented Force sensitive making noise in the Underground here on Coruscant. After making a few credits on legitimate bounties and buying a ship you left for the parts unknown."

"Dathomir."

"Pardon?" he said.

"I went to Dathomir. Sexy Witches, rampaging rancors. What's not to like?"

That useless bit of information seemed to have its intended effect and totally threw off Windu's train of thought. I've never hidden the fact that I spent a few years there, so why not volunteer information that could serve as a distraction?

"Why would you…?" He realized he'd gone off topic. "Nevermind."

"I wanted to learn about their magic, or what they thought was magic. Turns out it was just the Force, but by that time I got captured by the Singing River Clan and was forced to perform unspeakable sexual acts with their leader's daughter for four years. Not that I didn't try to get away or anything, but seriously, I lacked motivation. It's one of my biggest personality flaws. Ask anyone that knows me."

Windu's mouth slid open slightly and I was the current recipient of stymied stare. It was good to know that I could still confound the old timers in charge when I really wanted to.

"Tatooine," he ground out, returning to the subject at hand. "What did you have to do with the assassination of Count Dooku?"

Apparently, my misdirection wasn't up to par. "Who says I had anything to do with it? I could have sworn I told you about buying a different ship or something along those lines."

"Look, I don't care if it was you that dealt the blow yourself. Dooku was a Sith. We're not here to arrest you and charge you with anything. All I want is information. So, can we skip the double-speak, and obfuscations?"

Oh, well, that was an entirely different matter. However, I wasn't so fresh out of school where I couldn't realize he wasn't that powerful in this regard. "You don't have that kind of authority. The crime, if there _was_ a crime committed by me, was on Tatooine. That's Hutt territory, Republic or not. Jabba takes a dim view of things like this on his world. All I need is for this to get out and I'd be stuck on Coruscant, watching my back for the rest of my life… _if_ I had done anything, of course."

He narrowed his eyes at me, probably frustrated that I was holding him at bay. "Who do you think turned you in?"

Dammit. Jabba and I were going to have words the next time I was on Tatooine.

"There were Jedi witness to the entire scene, and it was confirmed by the Hutt that you were the only person that possessed personal cloaking technology in the area."

That made me blink. "I don't have any personal cloaking tech."

Silence stood between us for a few moments while the pressure against my mind was increased two-fold.

"Do you like war?" he asked. "Do you like seeing innocent people die, Potter? Dozens of systems galaxy wide are under the thumb of the Confederacy. We have you to thank for throwing them into chaos at the moment. Their public face is dead, but behind that face is someone else pulling the strings. I don't care about you or your acts beyond your place as a sentient being. I don't care about your sexual escapades or about your abuse of the Force as long as you don't step over the line. What I do care about is the person pulling the strings. That's what I want. That's who I want."

I stared blankly at him and relaxed my concentration on occluding so he could sense the truth of my words. "I have no idea who you're talking about."

Windu closed his eyes and I watched as he breathed evenly for a few moments. Who knew I could frustrate a Jedi Master so easily?

"And contrary to popular belief, your Jedi witnesses, and Jabba's word, for whatever _that's_ worth, I didn't kill Count Dooku." I facilitated his death, but I wasn't the one to deliver the final blow. I left that last part unsaid. I wasn't completely stupid.

~O~

Windu disappeared after that announcement and left me sitting in the room by myself. Eventually I kicked my boots up on the table and leaned back for a nap while I had the chance. I didn't want them to think letting me stew for a while was going to change my story or anything. When the door opened again, it was one of the underlings dropping off a meal for me. I was never one to turn away food since I usually spent most of my time eating field rations out in space or partaking of a bowl full of noodles on various planets.

After working my way through the veggies and some sort of weird pasta dish I heard voices outside the door and decided to just set aside the plate in lieu of the canned drink. My typical luck being with me in full force, I snapped the pull tab off of the can and grimaced at being denied. I tried using the provided spork utensil and pounded away at the top to no avail. Whoever it was outside was still yakking away, so I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out my time honored equalizer in cases like this.

Adjusting the control knobs to shorten the length of the blade, I ignited the lightsaber and set my tongue at the corner of my mouth as I estimated the depth I had to run it across the top of the can. Of course, right when I performed the action was the exact moment that door opened and revealed Mace Windu standing there gawking at me with Chancellor Palpatine beside him. Color me somewhat caught in the act.

"Uh… the tab broke."

"Where did you get that?" Windu demanded.

"Hey, there's no need to get snippy. They brought it with the meal. It's a Jedi drink. You can probably order your own."

"Not the drink." Holding his hand up, the lightsaber was jerked out of my grasp and flew across the room to him.

"Hey, that's mine!"

"Guard!" Windu snapped. "Wasn't he searched before entering the Temple?"

"And scanned," was the reply.

While I may not have Hermione's Deus Ex Machi-bag, I did have the wherewithal to perform a similar spell to my jacket pockets. Who knew scanner tech couldn't penetrate the effects of the charm? Me; that's who.

"Scan him again."

Palpatine raised his hand to the guard. "I don't think that will be necessary, Master Windu. If Mister Potter had intended any harm to anyone at the temple, I daresay that he would have by now. Don't you think?"

I pointed at him and nodded while Windu seemed determined to place me in a certain category of ill repute.

"Chancellor, I strongly urge you not to take this man lightly. He is an unmeasured Force user of questionable morals."

"Again… _hey_! Can I have my can opener back?"

Palpatine smirked and directed his amusement to me. "I'll be perfectly safe with Mister Potter. After all, there will be plenty of witnesses to his accompanying me. I highly doubt he'd risk his source of income with the assassination of someone in my position. We can even have your guards escort us back to my office."

Windu nodded to the guard and eventually I had my lightsaber returned to me along with my blaster when we left the Temple. Palpatine was an alright sort of guy; at least he seemed normal enough.

"My apologies for the way you have been treated, Mister Potter," he said as we entered his personal skiff. The guards took up position behind me and tried to look intimidating. They managed a pretty good job of it.

"Heroes of your caliber should be vaunted for ridding the galaxy of such inept villains as Count Dooku. You deserve accolades not scorn, especially considering his talent with the blade."

Why did I suddenly feel like I was being romanced? "Uh… I don't know what they told you, Chancellor, but I wasn't the one…"

"Come now, Harry. May I call you Harry?" He didn't bother waiting for an acknowledgement before moving on. "You and I are men of a different cut, where moral convictions dictate our actions instead of the binding rule of law. If something doesn't work within the boundaries that are set, we find other ways to see that justice is done."

Palpatine held his hand up to forestall any objections on my part. "Oh, I know it doesn't look like it, but I was quite the rambunctious youth in my day. The battles I used to have with my family and my mentors over the years are legendary… or at least they should be – one day perhaps. We don't ask for these accolades, but we _would_ like to be compensated for our precious time and the risk to life and limb."

The smile on my face was morphing by the second into something akin to dread, as I finally recognized exactly what he was after. It was a time of war and the average citizen was tired of all the fighting, not to mention all the taxes they were paying to fund the constant battles. It was like Fudge and Scrimgeour all over again. Pretty soon he'd be telling me that all the Republic needed was a face, an everyman that the average Joe could relate to in order for them to back him even further.

"Really, Chancellor, I can't afford to have my face all over the HoloNet. Bad for business if the mark sees me coming."

He looked at me oddly for a moment before leaning back and joyfully laughing. "Oh ho! Harry, no, that wasn't what I had in mind."

The skiff came to a stop and Palpatine waved the guards away as he motioned down the hall. Red Robed guards with sleek matching helmets stood border to every juncture as we moved along. I liked all the red carpet and trim everywhere. It was reminiscent of my school days. There was the odd statue or two that seemed a little exotic if you take my meaning, primarily when we entered his office properly. I never was much for art, but considering the business I was in, sometimes I came across the occasional smuggler who dealt in antiquities, so it behooved me to recognize some things for what they were, so I could supplement my bounties with something substantial.

"Nice office," I commented.

And it was. Everything was fairly simple, nothing overly done. The floor and the walls were in the same red as the reception area and there were a few fairly tasteful pieces of art here and there. Something that did catch my eye was an incense burner on a plain table skirting one wall.

"Are you an admirer?" Palpatine genially asked.

Giving a quick glance over my shoulder I shrugged. "More of an opportunist, really. One of my bounties a while back was a smuggler by the name of Durab. He specialized in looting some of the tombs on Korriban."

It seemed as if I had really caught his attention with that side note of my life. "The Sith homeworld? How very interesting."

"You're familiar with it?"

He nodded sagely while grasping his hands behind his back. "I try to make it a point to learn everything I can from both sides of a conflict. There are always more points of view than the popular one."

Spoken like a true politician. Never admit to anything, especially an illegal Sith artifact sitting on display in the Chancellor's office. I wondered if any of the Jedi that visited ever noticed. Personally, I really didn't care. It was an incense burner. How evil can it be? It wasn't as if just having it there would harm anyone. If he wanted a freaky piece of art from a thousand years ago, who was I to say he couldn't have it?

"Anyway, I might or might not know of a place where you might be able to find some other pieces to compliment your collection, like this nice work."

Palpatine grinned, showing off a row of uneven and slightly stained teeth, and then chuckled right after. "Harry, I think we are going to get along famously."

~O~

Tea was served while we bantered back and forth about my adventures on Dathomir and his time spent under the tutelage of Hego Damask, some banking bigwig who shared similar taste in antiquities. All of this was quite nice and all, but I had other things to take care of; namely returning Teff's speeder and collecting my reward. It was almost eerie how he knew exactly when I was going to make my excuses and bolt.

"Before you leave I wanted to make sure you were aware I was officially pardoning you of any involvement in Count Dooku's demise. The Jedi and the local constabulary have a very nasty habit of implicating the very people I'd prefer to have watching out for the Republic out there on the Outer Rim." He smiled knowingly and slid a large datapad across the desk to me. "Not that you officially had anything to do with doling out justice, mind you. I find taking preventative measures like this best for those I've come to trust. Just sign at the bottom and leave your thumbprint."

It was just as he said, an official pardon. Red lights started going off in my head as I looked up at him. "Seeing as we are men of the galaxy, Chancellor, what exactly is this going to cost me?"

Palpatine chuckled again. "Such cynicism, Harry. You're right, of course. Very rarely do we see good deeds performed for purely altruistic reasons."

After setting his cup aside he looked at me critically. "I've seen the footage of the skirmish on Tatooine. I've also spoken to people whose opinion I trust in regard to your line of work. You have a certain… style that is difficult to categorize."

I leaned back on the chair and crossed my legs trying to figure out where exactly he was going with this.

"If Master Windu had taken the time to delve into your personal medical file here on Coruscant he would have found out that you are not a Force sensitive. Oh, don't look at me like that, Harry. I'm the leader of the Galactic Senate. Obviously your past is going to be looked into with the proverbial microscanner by my staff."

I suppose I could concede that point.

"The topic is neither here nor there. My question is how did you come by such wonderful cloaking technology, not to mention appearing out of thin air. One moment there isn't anything there and the next there was the slightest glimmer, almost as if light was attempting to bend around you."

Measuring the usefulness of a pardon against divulging to yet another person the existence of real magic wasn't much of an argument in my head.

"This explanation would be just between you and me?" I asked. "No other authorities?"

"Of course. This is strictly a personal request of mine. Color me an intensely curious individual."

I sighed and let my wand drop into my grasp. "It's called magic."

Palpatine looked mildly put out, but I didn't wait for the typical disbelieving drivel that usually follows that revelation.

"If I might demonstrate?"

He licked his lips and leaned back while gesturing his assent. "By all means."

Lifting my wand I cracked myself over the head and promptly disappeared from view. Reversing it a moment later I saw I finally had his interest. He tilted his head slightly to the side obviously analyzing what I'd done.

"Quite interesting. Is that the limit of your… talent?"

I couldn't leave it with something as simple as that since he would possibly be a good source of income in the near future. So I transfigured one of the chairs in front of his desk into a Nexu. It was a good two hundred pounds of deadly feline teeth, massive claws, and a fully prehensile tail. It let loose with an angry roar that set Palpatine backing his chair up and widening his eyes in disbelief. I had to hand it to him though, he didn't piss his pants.

A moment later and the alien cat was once again a simple chair.

He darted his eyes to me and then again to the chair. "Was that real? It was an illusion."

Shaking my head I said, "It was quite real. Here, something more manageable perhaps."

Summoning one of the cushions from the lounging area near the door, I transfigured it to a rabbit and picked it up off the floor to set on the Chancellor's desk. Delight showed in his eye this time as he reached over and stroked the white fur.

"Amazing. This is my couch cushion?"

"It still is. The animal is real enough, but it won't need to be fed because magic sustains it. I can direct it to do whatever I want or I can turn it back."

"Astounding," he murmured as he resumed his seat. "You perform these feats with your… magic wand?"

I shrugged. "It's just a focus, like the Jedi and their lightsabers."

"Ah, yes. Speaking of which – the one you carry. It is your own?"

Resisting the urge to freeze in place, I just relaxed and smiled knowingly. "Saw the switch did you?"

I reached inside to my pocket and withdrew a different lightsaber than the one that was returned to the guard. "Since he stole mine I figured I'd hold on to Mace Windu's for a while, just to balance things out. I swapped them with a Switching Spell when he gave it to the guard to hold."

Apparently, I was Palpatine's new favorite toy. I'd never seen him so animated on the HoloNet. "Delightful! He never once suspected."

Something told me we held similar opinions on the vaunted Jedi. They served a purpose, but just like every other agency of any government, they sometimes overstep their bounds. It was refreshing to hear of the times that one was put over on them – all in good fun of course. I wouldn't want them harmed or discredited outright.

"And the original one you carry?"

"I took it off a dead bounty. A fallen Jedi that wouldn't willingly return to Coruscant for his crimes."

Palpatine's eyes nearly sparkled. "A _fallen_ Jedi you say."

"Right. I'm sure you're familiar with the term; someone they've trained and don't meet up with their standards. They go off and use their talents in less than reputable ways, like assassinations for instance."

"Quite familiar. Count Dooku was one of them. And you were the one to dispatch this fallen Jedi?"

"Two, actually," I confirmed. "They should be listed among the others I've brought in."

"I must say, Harry. You are a bit more than my security staff made you out to be."

While I attempted to not look like I was preening or anything overly effeminate I returned Windu's lightsaber back to its place and once more decided this was a good point to call it a day. The Chancellor, again, surprised me with his ability to read those signals.

"I imagine you have a busy schedule. Men like us are always on the go, to use the vernacular. One more thing, if you wouldn't mind."

I nodded, urging him on.

"How long are you planning to stay on Coruscant? I ask because I might have some… opportunities for a person with your unique skill set."

Color me interested. It would be nice to have a semi-steady income that didn't involve me dodging slugs or blaster fire on a daily basis. "What would we be talking about?"

Palpatine frowned as he turned his head away. "The life of a politician is one of conflict, Harry. I've never been one to shy away from the dangers that go hand in hand with public office. However, since I have held the Chancellor's seat there have been a few attempts on my life that go beyond the occasional threat sent over the HoloNet. That's where the Chancellor's guard came about."

He gestured off toward the doors. "They secure the office and so forth, but they are very flashy, something I try to stay away from. As you can see, I am a simple man with simple tastes. Carrying so many official guards with me… well, it is difficult to accomplish the more esoteric duties that my office requires."

I nodded with understanding. "Too many official eyes. You need someone behind the scenes."

He pointed at me as if I'd hit the nail on the proverbial head. "Exactly – a right hand so to speak. Someone that doesn't mind getting his hands dirty, like me. Someone with similar interests and stern values, but with the sense enough to recognize a situation for what it is, and deal with it in a manner to which it is due."

Palpatine let that sit out there for the moment, letting me absorb exactly what it was he meant. "Take a few days; think on the subject. Someone with your talents could help the Republic in ways that the guard, the constabulary, and the Jedi, simply are too shackled by their mandates to deal with."


	4. Taking Off the Gloves

**Note**: Disclaimer in first chapter. Thank you for your comments and reviews. They are always welcome.

**Chapter 4**

It was official: Chancellor Palpatine was my new mate. Anyone that has the pull to give me random pardons, pay handsome finder's fees for not quite legal works of art or any random artifacts I might know about, and issue a voucher for twenty thousand Republic credits for the public demise of a Sith Lord was just fine in my book. On top of the eight thousand credits for my bounty this morning, I was sitting pretty comfortable by the time I made it back to Teff's to return her speeder.

"You're late," she snapped when I opened the door.

"Unavoidable. This is Jedi we're talking about. You know how they are. Besides, the Chancellor wanted to have a word."

Teff's lekku twitched when I mentioned the last part. "Palpatine? Stang! What did he want?"

I shrugged. "Pat on the back. Job well done. That kind of thing."

"For Kark?" She ran her fingers over her computer keyboard for a moment. "He's not _that_ big of a catch."

Not mentioning Dooku or my involvement with Ventress on Tatooine was done on purpose. The less people that knew about that, the better for my longevity. "Politicians; anything for a good blurb on the HoloNews."

"Uh-huh, it's not like you were involved with taking out Dooku or anything big like that, right?"

I froze for a moment too long. Teff shook her head in disappointment. "Harry, what have I told you about getting involved with the high rollers? The news is already filtered out. Now you'll have to deal with all the vengeance seekers."

With a sigh I leaned on the counter and rubbed at my eyes. "There's a bounty on me."

She nodded. "Seventy-five thousand credits, dead. Private backer, so I can't even tell you who to strangle to get it called off."

"Seventy… I only got twenty for Dooku!"

"Honey, I'd find a hole and dig in somewhere deep. This is going to bring out a lot of the big names. Cad Bane, Aurra Sing; they only consider numbers above forty."

"Dammit." Turning around, I glanced outside the window. The feeling I was being watched was already making the hair on the back of my neck stick up. "Hold on, I thought Sing was in prison."

"Whatever. At least you don't have to worry about being randomly taken out from two kilometers away with a slug thrower. Still, the big names know your reputation, and you'll have every want-to-be in the Underworld wanting to make a name for themselves after you. Expect the worst; in other words don't come back here until they're dead or you are."

~O~

I was disillusioned the entire way back to the _Gimlet_, and I'd have to live that way until I could at least take out at a bare minimum of the bigger named hunters to warn off the others. Plans were already forming in my head. With my appearance at the Temple and the Senate building, word would get out quick enough to those that were interested. The first thing I would have to do is protect my only way off the planet for the time being.

"Mikki," I said as I came out of the lift. "What's the holdup with the paint job?"

"Special colors, Boss. They had to order some, and it's not paint. Why are you cloaked?"

"There's a bounty on my head… hold on. Blue is a special color?"

"A bounty? And you're here on our new ship? Get out!"

Flipping him off did no good since he couldn't see my hand. "I came back to lay some basic protections around the place. It's still droid work, right?"

He threw a mechanic growl at me. "Yes. Now, will you go?"

I didn't bother answering as I took the lift down, stopping off in my cabin for my bag to change clothes into something more suited for hunting. I didn't like to be weighed down like your typical ARC trooper, but I did have some light armored clothing that would take a shot or two as long as it wasn't dead on.

After double-checking my utility belt I added two thermal detonators, just to be on the safe side and then donned my jacket. Leaving the oak wand, I took the hawthorn as a backup. It was suited more for the darker curses than my holly. If I was going to be hunted down then I wasn't holding back with any lightweight magic. Blood was going to boil, bones were going to explode, and Avada's were going to Kedavra. They were going to know what it was like to screw with Harry Potter.

"Boss? You still here?" Mikki said from the other side of the door.

I opened it and stepped out. "Hold the fort. I'm locking the _Gimlet_ down. Nobody comes in or out until I return or Coruscant explodes, whichever comes first."

"Right. Good luck and all. Try not to die. I'm up for vacation time in a couple of months."

He never took a vacation. Every so often I drop a few credits and treat him to an oil bath and an upgrade or two. That usually kept him off my back for a little while. Hitting the control for the boarding ramp I disillusioned myself again and waited for it to finish dropping, but not before the first blaster bolt had already flown through the opening.

Mikki squealed and ducked into the lift while I hugged the wall and stayed as still as possible. It was movement that gave away the telltale signs of my presence, the almost undetectable shimmering that Palpatine described earlier.

"Did you get him?" I heard from around the right corner of the bay door.

"I don't know. Go check."

"Fark you. You go check."

"I was the one that shot. That means you have to go check."

"Sithspit! I shoot first next time. Cover me."

As soon as I saw his head stick out ever so slightly from around the side I shot my wand hand forward. "_Cremare_!"

White hot fire came into existence at the center of his chest and expanded in less than a second to encompass his entire body. Whoever it was didn't even have a chance to shriek, shout, or squeal before there was a burned out husk falling to the ground.

"Next!" I yelled.

His partner screamed and all I heard was rapid boot falls leading away from the scene.

"Right then. See you later, Mikki."

"Give'em hell, Boss!"

With the ramp closed I made sure it was locked properly and set a Muggle Repelling Charm on the area. It would keep everyone away, except for, curiously enough, Wookiees. It usually worked very well on sentient creatures of all types. I suppose they were simply too hardheaded to let something bother them like that. There weren't too many Wookiee bounty hunters though, so I didn't worry too much about it. Leaving the dead body at the entrance might scare off the faint of heart, so I didn't bother with moving the evidence.

It was the Underworld. Unless a Tinny was around to witness the act, nobody usually cared one way or the other. There were plenty of ways to die down here that didn't involve someone killing someone else.

It took me thirty minutes of slowly moving down the street to one of the lower end hotels before I moved in and sealed the door behind me. There wasn't anyone around except the guy at the counter and I was through with understating my abilities. It served a purpose at the beginning while I learned my way around the galaxy, but as far as I was concerned, at this point, the more dangerous people thought of me the better. I wanted word to get around that I could go invisible in less than a moment; that I could reach out and touch anyone wherever they were and they'd never know until it was far too late. I wanted them scared, because if they thought that then they were less inclined to even consider crossing me.

That sort of attitude has its ups and downs, as I learned back on Earth after I killed Voldemort by disarming him to death. The witnesses to the battle didn't see it that way. They thought my Expelliarmus was what did the deed, and if I could do that with a Disarming Charm, what could I do with something actually meant to be deadly.

For the following few years criminals would sometimes just throw down their wands when they knew I was there. Then there were the glory seekers that wanted showdowns in the middle of Diagon Alley. It was ridiculous.

The clerk looked oddly at the door as I reappeared no more than a foot away from him.

"Gah!"

"Room for one. Top floor. Name is Potter."

~O~

The temperature in the Underworld stayed pretty consistent. That's why I could sit on top of the building across the street from the room I rented and not be entirely uncomfortable while I snacked on an energy bar waiting for the first of what was sure to be a long line of idiots trying to make a name for themselves.

The screams came three hours later. I wasn't even aware that someone had entered the room, as they must have come in to the building from a different entrance. I'm sure one of the three transfigured Nexu I left in there eventually killed and ate him. They didn't need to be fed; that didn't mean they couldn't go through the motions.

Another hour later and someone was taking pot shots from two buildings over using some high caliber ammo if it was penetrating the transparisteel windows. I sighed and pinpointed the assassin, apparated over and gave him an exfoliation from hell before returning.

A globe shaped assassin droid arrived within minutes which I transfigured into a basketball, or at least I tried to. It exploded along with the thermal detonators it was trying to deliver.

By morning, there was a complete mess on the street below and a large Republic Security presence trying to make sense of the carnage. As I was watching the goings on I felt my comm vibrate lightly. Feeling for the switch, I hit it.

"Hello?"

"Is this pandemonium your doing?"

"Miss Ventress," I said as I smiled. "How good to hear from you."

"As soon as I viewed the charred remains at the spaceport I knew you would be involved."

"Mmm. The word's out that I'm the one that offed Dooku and a bounty has been placed on my head from some friends of his."

I could easily hear her scoff. "Dooku had no friends. He had a master he answered to and General Grievous licking his boots; that is all."

"Wonderful. Any idea who this master is? I'd like to pay him a visit and express my feelings on the matter of the bounty on my head, not to mention putting my boot up his ass."

"Unknown," she answered. "He took great pains in hiding his presence whenever I was present. Though I do know he goes by the name Darth Sidious, and that the Viceroy of the Trade Federation answers to him as well."

"Lovely."

"If you go after him, I want in."

Considering how she felt about Dooku, this didn't take me by surprise. "Issues?"

"The same as before. I have a stake in seeing this Sidious dead."

"I'll comm you as soon as things quiet down here. Most of the idiots have realized that I'm not the quiet, peace loving person I was before the bounty went out. I want to wait around a little longer to see if any intelligent prey show up."

"Noted."

The comm closed after that and I needed to find a fresher or at the very least a dark alley to relieve myself. I'd forgotten the first rule of any stake up: bring an empty Gatorade bottle. However, seeing as PepsiCo's reach wasn't quite this far into the universe, I'd have to make due with an alternative. Apparating to the Jedi Temple, I took advantage of the fresher located in the conference room where I was being held previously. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone else being detained or entertained as the case may be.

When I Apparated back to the rooftop, I took a moment to survey the area and then fished out another energy bar. Before I could even open the package, someone decided to take a pot shot at me.

"Bloody hell," I groaned as I rolled to the side under the protection of the slightly raised wall and felt for damage at my ribs.

A flat slug dropped off my armor and hit the roof. Obviously it didn't penetrate, but it felt as if I'd been kicked by a hippogriff.

The hawthorn wand dropped into my grasp as I heard the whine of a swoop bike approaching. It zoomed by and I held perfectly still until I could get a better look and possibly stop wheezing at the same time.

"Your cloaking tech doesn't work against echo-technology, Potter. Just thought you might want to know."

I chuckled. "Hello Cad. Long time no see."

Rolling to the side, I apparated to the far end of the roof and scrambled to my feet throwing up a shield against the inevitable blaster fire. He didn't disappoint. Two bolts slammed into my shield, dissipating along the edges. Cade Bane stood on the opposite side of the rooftop, dressed in his mid-level weight body armor, dark duster, and an extraordinarily wide-brim hat. Duros possessed blue skin and were only vaguely humanoid. It was the bright red eyes and lack of pupil that made them seem more alien than anything else.

"Don't suppose I can talk you out of this. You've already seen the mess on the street."

"Amateurs. And you know a contract is a contract."

He raised both his blasters and shot again as I apparated once more, this time directly behind him. His boot jets fired and I had the choice between cursing him, or Apparating away from the thermal detonator he just dropped. Though how he did that while his hands were otherwise occupied with the blasters I had no idea.

Across the street, above the hotel I'd been staking out the entire night, I appeared and closed my eyes against the bright explosion. Thermal detonators come in various shapes, sizes, and intensity. I usually chose the small end type, which vaporize an area about five to eight feet in circumference. Everything outside of that blast radius is pretty safe from harm, barring the shock of looking briefly into the sun effect. When I opened my eyes to sight him once more, he'd already disappeared.

The sound of a telltale whoosh gave me a half-second before the fire enveloped me I countered with a Flame Freezing Charm. Spinning around I spotted him no more than twenty feet off the roof blasting me with a flamethrower. Bad move; he should have stuck with his blasters.

"_Grigorthia_!"

The flame spluttered to a halt and his eyes widened as he saw that I hadn't even been singed in the slightest.

"Heart beating a little fast there, Cad?"

He grabbed at his stomach area. I suppose organs shift places from species to species. His blue skin started darkening.

"What… what did you do?"

Keeping my wand on him I shifted to the side, presenting a thinner target. "It's called the Arrhythmia Curse. At each passing second, your heart is beating faster and faster. Pretty soon capillaries start bursting. Eventually your blood pressure rises so high that nasty things start happening. You have about a minute to tell me where I can find Darth Sidious, if you want it to stop."

Cad Bane reached for his blaster once more. I had to give it to him; he was fast.

"_Incatus_!"

His body jerked in mid-air and at the same time the boot jets gave out sending him crashing to the ground.

"That's the best the galaxy has to offer in terms of bounty hunters?" Asajj Ventress asked as she stepped out of the access door to the roof. She was unarmed, but I kept her in my field of vision as she closed the distance on Bane.

"He's used to fighting Jedi. I'm no Jedi."

"Where is he?" she said as she pulled a lightsaber off her belt. "Tell me and I'll end your suffering quickly."

Bane coughed and spat up something green.

"He doesn't know and he can't hear you anymore," I explained. "Most of his senses have been overwhelmed."

Ventress looked up at me and lifted an eyebrow, considering me as she did once before. A flash of her blade later and she set it back at its place at her belt. "Your talents continue to intrigue me, Harry Potter."

At least she finally figured out how to pronounce my name.

A Levitation Charm later and I send his corpse to the street below before Apparating Ventress and myself to the _Gimlet_'s command deck, startling Mikki and sending him in a snit until he disappeared down below.

She made herself comfortable on one of the passenger chairs while I shrugged off my jacket and pulled up the padded armor covering my ribs. The entire area was red and I could swear Bane cracked one with the slug he shot at me. A bone knitting charm later and there was significantly less pain than before. The swelling I'd have to deal with naturally. I ran out of bruise ointment years ago.

"What did you just do?"

Looking up at her, I dropped the armor and gingerly leaned against the bulkhead. "Fused the cracked rib. He got off a clean shot while I was up on the roof. I'll be fine by tomorrow morning. Speaking of which, I seriously need some sleep. You're welcome to stay or whatever."

When I picked up my jacket Ventress already wanted my attention again. "One moment. What are your plans concerning Sidious?"

I grimaced at the thought. "I know the Jedi are looking for him. They pulled me in when I dropped off a bounty. That's where all this mess started."

Her brow hardened, which was an unusual sight; most times they just wrinkle. "What did you tell them?"

"That I didn't kill Dooku. They didn't believe me. Neither did Palpatine when he visited. Still wound up with a bright shiny pardon. He offered me a job being a right-hand-in-the-wings-go-to-guy. "

I watched as her eyes drifted away for a moment. "Having the resources of the Republic might make this easier. The Chancellor's office receives daily briefings from the Jedi. You would be in a position to be privy to them. I could move about more freely if I knew where they were positioned…"

Having her sit there and plot out my decisions for me put a scowl on my face. Making me out to be her man in the Senate made me sound like her little gofer boy. Basically, I didn't like her ideas. She wasn't offering me anything but an attitude and a couple of lightsabers to back me up.

"Yeah, that's great and all. Look, I can make you a disguise talisman. Remember the black skin? It's simple stuff. You can go anywhere you want. As long as you don't start going on a killing rampage at the Jedi Temple or something, do whatever you want with my blessing."

She shot me a look and then eased off. "Go to sleep. You'll be more receptive when you aren't in pain."

That's what I wanted to hear.

~O~

Later that afternoon I woke, showered, and donned my armor again before grabbing something to eat out of my stores. I wasn't going to chance food in public any time soon. Dying by poison is one of the ways I prefer not to go out of this universe. After picking up a couple of items from my room I went up to the flight deck and saw Ventress sitting there at the Holoprojector using her datapad and viewing the schematics of some building I didn't recognize.

Mikki was working on something under the pilot's station when he noticed me. "You had a call from the Chancellor's office, Boss."

I nodded and pulled out a stone token with a leather thong running through a hole I made at one time. Ventress followed my movements until I sat and pulled out my Holly wand.

"Disguise talisman. What do you want to look like?"

That seemed to garner her interest. "That appears Dathomirian in origin."

"That's one of the reasons I went there," I explained. "While I wasn't able to perform their style of Force magic, I was able to adapt certain ways they do things to my style. It's a lot easier to sell token magic like this than have people track me down every time they want something done, and I can charge a higher price."

Clicking off her datapad, she tucked it in her belt. "And what are you charging me for this talisman?"

"Consider this a working relationship. It's in my best interest to see that you're not caught out by the Jedi or whoever while we're hunting down Sidious. So, no charge. Besides, if I'm going to take this position with Palpatine then I need to make sure I have eyes in other places."

Ventress slowly blinked, considering my offer. "A partnership of mutual benefit?"

I saw what she did there. Since Dooku's death she has asked me twice about forming some sort of working relationship, definitely to support her vengeance against certain people. I'm more of a live and let live sort of person. Even after all the crap the Malfoy family did to me and mine over the years, I let it go after the Battle of Hogwarts, only so long as they didn't continue screwing with me.

Not that I don't understand vengeance. I'm intimately familiar with it. It was the vengeance that broke my proverbial cherry with the use of the Unforgivables. However, I also realized that it would rule my life if I let it. I learned my lesson, and I've become a little more pragmatic since my arrival in this galaxy. I'll use any means necessary to stay alive – well, barring Horcruxes. I wouldn't know how to stuff a little bit of my soul into things anyway.

"We'll take it one incident at a time, shall we?" I suggested.

A single nod was returned. "Human, dark hair, moderate skin color, and if you would alter my facial features slightly."

Ah yes, the talisman.

Within a couple of minutes I'd charmed the flat stone and passed it over. "It'll only work as long as it's within millimeters of your skin, so I'd suggest wearing it under your clothing or bound to your wrist or something."

Ventress stared at the stone while it hung from the thong. "What is the duration?"

"Uh, permanent, until you take it off. Put it back on to reactivate. I charmed it to be unbreakable, but I've never put something like that to a test against blasters or lightsabers. It should hold; I don't see any reason why it wouldn't."

As she slipped the thong around her head, I conjured a hand mirror and let her review my work. It was brilliant if I do say so myself. She took the mirror and after holding it up, frowned, and then looked at me.

"This isn't too striking?"

I'd widened and enlarged her eyes slightly, gave her more definition in her cheeks and a nice tan. With the dark brown hair she looked like an actress I used to see back home. I often used people I knew, or at least knew of to do these sorts of things. It made the work that much easier if I could visualize an example already in existence.

"Well, I'd definitely change your clothing to something a little less Asajj Ventress, and you might want to consider a different pair of lightsaber hilts. Given that, nobody will recognize you. I can point you toward a slicer here on Coruscant that could work you up some different identification as well. I can't really go around calling you Miss Ventress in public anymore."

"Boss," Mikki interrupted. "The Chancellor? You don't want to get us kicked off Coruscant for not returning the call."

"Oh, right." When I moved forward to click on the holoterminal I stopped before hitting the switch. "Do you want to be here for this?"

"No," Ventress answered. "I have errands to run. Contact me once you have secured your position and I will let you know if I have found any leads on the location of the Trade Federation leader. At the moment, he is the only person that would possibly have knowledge of Sidious's identity."

Once the lift door closed I hit the control that would return Palpatine's call. A young human woman answered almost immediately.

"Supreme Chancellor's office. How may I direct your call?"

"Harry Potter returning the Chancellor's call."

"Hold a moment and I'll see if he's finished with his meeting, Mister Potter."

The image blanked while I thought on what I was doing. I know I was iffy about being Ventress's inside man, but the opportunity to make enough credits to retire to a place like Zeltros was too tempting. I could serve as go between for Palpatine to acquire a few more esoteric items of art, collect those fees, maybe go on a couple of troubleshooting missions for him or whatever he had in mind and then retire. I suppose it would depend on what he wanted done.

I could do intimidation, or making back door deals with people that weren't exactly reputable so Palpatine could keep a squeaky clean reputation. That wasn't an issue. I do those sorts of things on jobs already. He seemed a decent enough sort, but he was still a politician. They pretty much only look out for themselves, of course I did that as well. It's the nature of business.

The holoprojection blinked and was replaced with Palpatine sitting at his desk. "Harry! It's good to see you're still in one piece. My security was notified that there was a bounty put on you, no doubt by disreputable friends of Count Dooku."

"Alive and kicking, Chancellor. Though the same can't be said for fourteen bounty hunters."

Palpatine chuckled and fake coughed into his fist. "Yes, quite. I've seen the security footage. I'm almost tempted to offer you a position in my security detail, but I know that's not where your interest lays."

"I appreciate the thought, Chancellor, but I was more interested in the other position we spoke about."

"Excellent! One moment, Harry." He looked away and I saw someone hand him something from off the holo. "Ah, yes. Good timing. Harry, would you be interested in accompanying me on a trip to Alsakan? There's a refugee relief fundraiser that I've been scheduled to attend to deliver a speech. We would be provided with an opportunity to speak in private along the way."

While attending any sort of political event brought about feelings of nausea, speaking with him on an unofficial level sounded like a good idea. If nothing else I could find out exactly what sort of things would be expected of me if I chose to take the position.

"That sounds good, Chancellor."

He handed something to the person off holo and turned back to me. "Let's take your ship to the escort group above Coruscant. That way you won't be stuck there afterward listening to what I'm sure will be a very dry and dull speech."

Okay, my opinion of the man just rose by an order of magnitude. He knew exactly what to say to keep my interest, but I suppose that was his job. Either way, I wouldn't have my evening totally ruined and I could get off planet for a short while.

"Sounds good, sir."

"I'll have my assistant send you the coordinates and landing codes to the Senate docking bay, so you won't run into any trouble. She'll be alerted when you arrive."

With that he sent the holocom back to the young lady and I took down the relevant information.

"Mikki!"

"On it, Boss."

~O~

The paint job would have to wait for another time. I left a message for Ventress as she had already turned her comm off, and we were in the air within fifteen minutes. Thankfully, there were no attempts on my life or the _Gimlet_ during the flight from the Underworld to the Senate docking bays.

After acquiring our docking codes, Mikki set us down at one of the closest bays to the building itself. It already seemed as if I was receiving preferential treatment. Usually, we'd be relegated to the furthest bay imaginable. Bounty hunters had reputations after all.

I thought of changing clothes to something more businesslike, but the light armor was about as formal as I got. At least it was a uniform brown instead of the hodgepodge of whatever I usually wore. The blaster got left behind. Its presence would only make the guards nervous.

Palpatine was just walking out the doors to the Senate, escorted by his red guards, when I dropped the boarding ramp. He stopped for a moment when he caught sight of the _Gimlet_, and looked like he was chuckling to himself, before moving on.

"Harry, what a wonderful ship! A Star Courier is it not?"

I nodded in response. "Just bought it out on Tatooine."

Once they made it to the bottom of the ramp, Palpatine finished his brief inspection. "Permission to come aboard, Captain."

I bowed my head slightly in response to his courtesy. "Granted, Chancellor."

He waved his guards away and I closed the ramp behind him as he looked around inside.

"I was thinking of buying one of these for myself," he commented with amusement in his voice.

"Well, I've only had it for a few days, but Mikki likes it – my maintenance and pilot droid."

Once I showed him up to the flight deck, he had a seat and Mikki let me know we'd be underway in a minute. I conjured a tea service, to Palpatine's keen interest, and started pouring.

"I was impressed by your ability to hold your own last night," he began as I handed him his cup and saucer. "Security let me know after breakfast or I would have sent a full squad to assist."

Brushing off the sentiment casually, I sat down, crossing my legs. "I appreciate the thought, Chancellor, but if I can't take care of myself in situations like this then I wouldn't be the kind of person you needed for this position."

"Very true." He looked down at the tea thoughtfully and then up at me. "We all have expectations of the people around us, friends, family, colleagues – it's important to know exactly what place each of them fills in our lives."

With a shrug I set my tea down. "I'm afraid I'm not one to pay attention one way or another."

"Ah, but you do. Perhaps unknowingly; it's perfectly natural. You subconsciously create a hierarchy of these people. Perhaps one friend's opinion takes precedent over another in matters of morality, or you trust the opinion of a work associate in terms of your career rather than a cousin who only is only in your life peripherally."

"I suppose…"

Finishing off the last of his tea, Palpatine set it on the tray and I vanished the entirety back down to the kitchenette area on the lower deck.

"The point I'm making, Harry, is that I take that a step further. A man in my position must have strict organizational skills, or I would end up floundering. In my private residence I even have a physical chart of virtually every important person in my life. I find that being able to stand there and visualize each person, I am able to problem solve much quicker than normal. I do hate to micromanage."

I thought I could see where he was going with this mode of thought. "You find people of like minds and delegate the work to others."

He smiled in assent. "They come up with solutions to my problems and present them. I may alter a few things or even bring others in for more in depth thought on the matter at hand."

Narrowing my eyes, I failed to see where I fit into all of this. "How does having a bounty hunter on staff help you?"

Palpatine paused for a moment. "I think of you more as a problem solver. As I mentioned yesterday afternoon, being the leader of the free galaxy has its downsides. You are able to go places and perform deeds which much more… delicacy than myself."

Sweeping out a hand to the view port he expounded. "Everywhere I go is littered with pomp and circumstance. I see problems, like this current war with the Confederacy, and I come to the solution, but others find my ideas… morally ambiguous."

Ah. I could already see where this was going.

"For instance, at the beginning of this conflict," he explained. "I saw the power and the leadership capability of Count Dooku. Say what you want about the man – he could stir up controversy and direct all the blame to the Republic, just like he's done for the last few years. Considering my faith and my moral obligation to the galaxy at large, you can imagine the difficulty I had in coming to one inescapable conclusion. Dooku had to go."

For effect, I raised a single eyebrow to his problem solving solutions.

"At the time, the viceroy of the Trade Federation, Nute Gunray, would have been left in charge, and the man is no leader, not of a war. Petty squabbling would have taken over amongst the Separatist system leaders, and this war would have fallen apart within a month after it was started."

"I see." I really did see. From what had been broadcast through the HoloNews over the last few days, entire systems were already reverting back to Republic rule. It was still far from over, but taking out Dooku had been a major blow to the Confederacy.

"Do you? Do you truly see, Harry? I gave the assent to my military leaders in their meetings with the Jedi to suggest just this course of action. They wouldn't hear of it, and now hundreds of billions of citizens have paid the price, people I was sworn to protect!"

I was decidedly uncomfortable at that point. I'd felt the exact same sort of outrage years ago. Granted, I wasn't the one that was in charge, but I was the one that had the answer to a deadly problem. Being a little too emo at the time probably had something to do with nobody listening to me until it was too late. In the end people died and my society was put under the rule of a tyrant.

"I really do understand," I admitted.

Palpatine sighed and leaned back rubbing at his forehead. "My apologies, Harry. This war has gone on for far too long and I have lost many friends and colleagues. Sometimes I feel that nobody that hasn't been out on the desolate planets of our galaxy truly understands the pain and suffering that is present. I have. I make it a point to visit as many as I can, but it does no good other than to cement my resolve to do better in the future."

While it wouldn't be my place to comfort him with a pat on the shoulder, I could offer help in this situation. Granted, I'd be milking this for all it was worth. I wasn't in this for altruism after all.

"What is it that you want me to do, Chancellor?"

He put on a grim smile before answering. "To put it as plainly as I am able, I have need of a dagger, Harry, someone I can rely on to implement the harsh choices that have to be made."

Let's say that I wasn't completely surprised, I was more startled that he actually came out and admitted this. "An assassin?"

"What?" he countered. "No. Any killings that have to be performed would need to be militarily sanctioned and performed by the proper authorities. Of course, if your life was threatened in the due course of your duties I wouldn't hesitate to back you on whatever decision you would make in the field."

Palpatine shook his head. "Listen to me, prattling on. You came here to be briefed on your duties and I am filling your head with ideas of government sanctioned killings. The metaphorical dagger I was speaking of, Harry, is hunting down specific people and bringing them to justice, much like what you do as a bounty hunter."

"Oh." Well, that made a little more sense.

"However, you'll be my personal bounty hunter. Of course, you'll have all the support and authority you need in order to carry out your duties. We need to end this war quickly and decisively. I have plans that will be implemented over the course of the next few months that will bring the Confederacy to its knees along with a few other annoyances."


	5. The Stalking Stone

**Note: **Disclaimer in first chapter. Thanks again for your time spent commenting or reviewing. I appreciate them.

**Chapter 5**

I nearly laughed myself silly when his first assignment for me was to coordinate with the Jedi Council and apprehend Viceroy Nute Gunray by any means necessary, and he stressed the word _any_ so hard that I actually snorted. Faking a bit of congestion right at that moment wasn't too difficult. There are plenty of weird mold down in the Underworld. The excuse could have been all sorts of believable.

"Why are we at the Jedi Temple?" Ventress asked as she looked out the viewport, probably for someone to kill in a seething rampage of unholy vengeance.

"I have to meet with one of the Knights. It's a cover more than anything; to make me look like I'm actually doing something to find the Viceroy."

She slid her eyes to meet mine with barely restrained anger. "We _are_ doing something, and the longer we wait to intercept the _Invisible Hand_, the chances that Grievous will decide to find another bolt hole increase. Then we will be impotent, much like the Jedi."

Holding up a point-making finger I replied. "It's unavoidable. Palpatine wants me to interact with Anakin Skywalker, and… what?"

I could almost swear that I could see the veins in Ventress's eyes actually increase in size. "Nothing. Let us go see… Skywalker."

Oh, right. There was a feud going on between the two of them. She turned and stalked to the lift.

"Miss Ventress, remember what I said about blood-baths and the Jedi Temple? That was a deal breaker."

She spun on me, holding a single lightsaber hilt that I didn't recognize. I stood my ground, but my wand hand was itching for me to do something.

"You can't expect me to… he…," she ground out. "_Fine_. Sidious is more important. I'll always know where to find Skywalker."

Entering the Temple with a volatile companion probably wasn't the best idea; however, it was better to find out if she really could control herself in these sorts of situations. If Ventress lost it, I could always say I didn't know who she was. I'm sure they'd believe me – on second thought.

"Are you sure you can hold it together in front of him? I could always give you a Cheering Charm."

Her brow hardened again, a look that I was quickly becoming familiar with. "What is a Cheering Charm?"

"A magical mood lifter typically given to the grief-stricken so they can function in public. It's useful for times like these as well."

My holly wand was already in my hand, prepared to cast. "Do you trust me?"

"Absolutely not; I trust no one." Ventress's eyes dropped to the wand as she considered being under yet another one of my spells. "What is the duration?"

"Unless otherwise specified, consider all of my magic permanent, but it can be dispelled just as soon as we are back on the _Gimlet_."

Rolling her eyes up to mine once more, she grimaced. "So I will be… cheerful?"

I shrugged. "I know it's an alien concept, but yes. It's not like getting drunk. You'll still have full use of your faculties."

I could have sworn that I heard her make a growling noise in her throat. "Very well. Skywalker possesses a modicum of talent; he would not be so senseless that he wouldn't detect my anger. Proceed."

A simple twist of the wrist later and I stood witness to something that no man alive has probably seen since Asajj Ventress was an infant. Her face actually looked like it hurt when her lips turned upward into a pleasant smile. I had to turn away. Some things simply weren't meant to be seen by mortal man.

"Please put your disguise talisman on."

"This feels wrong," she commented. "Are you sure you can reverse the effect?"

Sweet Merlin, I hoped so. "Yes. It's a very basic charm. A beginner could do it."

When I turned back around, Tracey Davis looked at me and I could relax once more. Well, I did say I prefer to use existing faces for my work. It also made it easier to hunt down abusers of my magic. A couple of years back I sold a talisman to a pirate that said he wanted out of the business and wanted to appear understated so nobody would suspect him. Within the month I saw Steve Buscemi's face on my bounty list for piracy. It didn't take me long to track him down.

Though considering I had to work alongside Ventress for the foreseeable future, my choice in faces probably wasn't well thought out. Since I still had an unfulfilled fantasy of that particular girl, I needed to go cantina hopping soon or I was in for the worst case of blue balls imaginable. Maybe I could _accidently_ sever the thong sometime during our trip and replace it with something that would give the appearance of Pansy Parkinson or someone equally as hideous.

We were escorted, unsurprisingly, to the same conference room where I was held not too long ago while we waited for Skywalker to show. Ventress sat beside me with her hands on her lap and an odd smile on her face while I was fiddling with Windu's lightsaber hilt. The room was suspiciously absent of any canned beverages. At least this time the guards weren't allowed to frisk me considering I had offered up my new credentials for inspection.

The Chancellor's Hand; it was an odd title that presented far too many opportunities for off color jokes, such as: I wonder what the Chancellor does with his Hand late at night. Being in the Jedi Temple and experiencing their propensity for acting straight laced, they weren't likely to come up with such jewels. At least I was self-deprecating. Nobody was above adolescent humor; once you think you are then it's time to retire, because all the joy has obviously been sucked out of your life.

The door finally opened revealing one of the temple guards. "Jedi Knight Skywalker has been called away on Temple business. He will be unable to meet with you until he returns."

I glanced at Ventress and then back to the guard. "Did he say when?"

"A Jedi's schedule is his own."

"Right."

"I told you it was a waste of time," Ventress virtually growled immediately upon having the Cheering Charm dispelled in the _Gimlet_.

"Not at all, Miss Ventress. We learned that room has no active surveillance."

She spun on me, suddenly quite alert. "How do you know?"

Waggling the hilt a little before I tucked it into my jacket pocket I said, "Mace Windu's lightsaber. He would have been down there in a flash if he saw I had it; don't you think?"

"How did you manage to steal from the… nevermind."

"He stole mine so I stole his. You could say that I'm bringing balance to the Force if you were the philosophical sort. Suddenly I feel all… what?"

There was a look on Ventress's face which was gone almost as quickly as it arrived.

"Nothing. MK-K1, set course for Cloumex exiting hyperspace exactly one parsec before our destination."

Mikki's head spun around and looked at me. "Boss?"

I nodded. "Go ahead. We're in this together. Oh and Mikki? Make sure all weapons are primed and ready when get there."

"Why Cloumex?" I asked as I met her back at the passenger seating.

Ventress was already pulling up the sector in question on the holoprojector when I sat. "Grievous begins planning his battles months ahead of time. That is one of the reasons his success rate is high. The ones he has lost are due to Dooku's interference. With him out of the way…"

"Things are about to get very messy."

"Quite." She zoomed in on the nearby Belderone system. "Due to many losses the Confederacy has suffered recently, they are finding it difficult to locate host worlds. Each one that has volunteered to supply them with munitions and land for droid foundries has been virtually obliterated by Republic forces. You can understand why very few are offering anymore."

It was easy enough to follow. "So Cloumex is next?"

"No, Belderone. The home planet of the Viceroy is located here, a few parsecs away from our destination. Grievous will no doubt have many scout craft scanning for ships coming out of hyperspace. We must approach at sub-light and remain cloaked the entire time."

"Okay. I can see the need for that. So, all we have to do is search an entire planet full of Neimoidians for a specific one?"

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Don't be ridiculous. Gunray will be on the _Invisible Hand_, Grievious's flagship, along with the rest of the Confederacy Council. He very rarely leaves its protection anymore."

My mouth opened slightly at the impossibility of penetrating anything called a flagship, kidnapping someone inside, and leaving without dropping off any body parts in the process.

"Uh…"

"The teleportation magic. Are you able to perform this from ship to ship?"

Oh. I saw where she was going with this. "There could be complications. I can Apparate through shields, but it throws my destination off. I'd rather not reappear in the vacuum of space."

"Not an issue. They will be stationary unless Republic forces are in the area."

"Alright. I will have to be familiar with my endpoint. I have to know where I'm going, or direct line of sight works as well."

Ventress pursed her lips and thought for a moment. "Will the deck plans be useful?"

I shook my head. "No, it doesn't work that way. Some magic involves visualization. I have to have the destination firmly planted in my mind. If I don't then pieces could get left behind, and you really don't want to experience splinching."

That seemed to have solved a problem for her. "Then we go in through the bridge. It has the widest viewports."

A nervous laugh escaped my mouth until I saw she was serious. "Uh, won't that be manned?"

"Heavily. No less than four MagnaGuards and six B1 battle droids, not to mention the high probability of General Grievous's presence. I'm not including the regular crew which most times consist of retasked B1s as well."

Raising my hand up to rub at my temples I replied, "_Yes_ would have sufficed."

"We won't fight them unless we are forced. I assumed we would enter under the cloak you provided on Tatooine."

"It's not infallible. In a well lit room anyone paying attention will see distortions in the air. Then there would be the noise we make when we move. I'm not saying it's impossible, but we'd have to be as stealthy as we can."

She looked at me strangely. "Surely amongst your magic you have something to allow you to move silently."

With a shrug I leaned back and studied my wand. "I'm more of an action type of guy. Given time, I'm sure I can come up with something. I have a Silencing Charm, but all that would accomplish is to stop someone from speaking. Something like that doesn't actually work on inanimate objects."

~O~

The trip from Coruscant to the outskirts of Cloumex only took a few hours. It was dropping to sub-light and moving in open space that ate up all the time. In hyperspace we're able to avoid all the little things that float along, like black holes, asteroid fields, stars, and so forth. The routes are well charted. However traveling from system to system in normal space, we have to take all of this into consideration. Luckily, I had a droid to do all of this for me.

This may or may not be the reason I don't fly very well with anything other than a broom. Honestly, when the wind isn't whipping though my hair and my stomach isn't trying its level best to exit through my mouth, then what's the point? I may have been a little bit of an adrenaline junkie in my youth where that subject is concerned.

I suppose, if I was honest with myself, that's why I chose this profession, to keep the energy and excitement in my life.

Kingsley Shacklebolt once told me that the reason I took the job offer with the Aurors was to satisfy some inner urge for excitement after the Horcrux quest was finished, or something equally as inane. I don't really remember the exact quote. In my mind I was cleaning up the world that bore me, because there were very few people that actually cared enough to do it right.

He was right in a way. I did crave something, but it wasn't adrenaline. At this point in my life, it's still undefinable. I don't feel the need to fix the galaxy around me, but I'd like for it to be a better place; who doesn't? Besides, they already have people for that, and they have a big nice shiny temple not far from the Senate building. I hear they're a selective bunch though.

Sometimes it makes me wonder what Earth would have been like if wizards had taken on the same task as the Jedi. Would I be one of the robe-wearing wand slingers who roamed the planet in search of evil doers? Meh, probably. With my luck I'd most likely be stuck in the outback of Australia where Acromantula are smaller, smarter, and like to ambush you in your own home.

Ventress looked over at me when I twitched at the thought. She paused for a moment and then returned to her datapad, attempting to find an alternate point of egress.

"Don't they have view ports on the sides of the ships? I could make a portkey… well, as long as the ship is stationary."

"Portkey?"

"It's another mode of magical transportation, except it's a lot more volatile. On the plus side, it's more accurate and there really isn't any form of non-magic barriers that can block it… that I've found at least."

"Volatile, how?"

I shrugged. "I have yet to travel by portkey and remain on my feet. Usually there is slamming onto the ground involved at some point. It's how I was planning on abducing the Viceroy; tag him with a portkey and transport him to one of the cabins on the lower deck. That way we don't have to worry about him being an issue when it's time to leave."

She considered it for a minute or so. "Will his willingness to stay on the _Invisible Hand_ hinder the portkey?"

"Not at all. Once it's touched, you're stuck until the ride is over."

Ventress pursed her lips before nodding. "This will be acceptable. The droids that man the vessel are always at their duty stations. The only time they leave is for scheduled maintenance, which is not often. The Council is usually in their quarters, the galley, a specific conference room, or occasionally on the bridge endlessly whining about their accommodations."

"Hey, Boss," Mikki said from the pilot's area. "It's back again."

I cringed at the timing. I seriously thought that I'd gotten rid of the thing this time.

"What is back?" Ventress replied warily as she stood and crossed the deck to the viewport, looking out over the vastness of space.

Whipping out my holly wand I summoned one of three banes of my existence. "Nothing to do with anything."

I knew she caught a flash out of the corner of her eye; it was evident when she followed its path to my waiting hand.

"You're lying. Even without the use of the Force it manifests itself on your face."

"Fine, it doesn't have to do anything concerning this mission, or you. It's a personal issue," I shot back as I headed for the lift.

"Whatever it was appears out of thin air, on this ship, on the Outer Rim of the galaxy, at this particular moment? I think not, Harry Potter." Once I hit the tab for the door she had to go and put me on a guilt trip. "You asked this morning if I trusted you. Everyone in my life, from my mother to Dooku has betrayed me, save for one person. From my experience with you to date, I thought you might be the second. I see that I was mistaken."

Ouch.

Taken in context, the item in my hand had absolutely nothing to do with her, but she didn't know that. Then again, she was hobnobbing with Sith not too long ago. The guilt trip might very well be just a ruse on her part. There was my stupid conscience interfering again where it doesn't belong. If what she said was true then she had reasons for being the way she is. That didn't mean that I had to be the one to be all buddy-buddy and lead her back on the metaphorical road to goodness. At this point in my life I wasn't exactly a role model for anyone. So, why was my gut still gnawing at me?

"May I assume that the one person you trusted is dead?"

Turning my head I watched as her eyes thinned while her posture was perfectly ridged. "Yes."

"It's a magical fairy tale, Miss Ventress." If she wanted truth, then I would be the one to show her. "Give me your hand and I don't want to hear any complaints about keeping my private matters private after this anymore."

I held my hand out to her. She looked at it warily for a moment and then reached out her own. Grasping hers tightly with mine, I turned the Resurrection Stone around three times.

He was a tall man, this Jedi that had never betrayed her. Dark hair receded deep on his scalp. Typical of most Jedi he was in good shape, heavily muscled, with a grim look of disappointment on his face.

"Hello, Asajj."

The angry facial features that I had come to associate with my current partner, the hard brow, the firm lips that were already producing unattractive wrinkles in her skin, were whisked away and were replaced with something I thought I'd never see: anguish.

"M-master?"

Taking the stone, I slipped it into her grasp. Once activated by me she would be able to hold on to this shade of the Jedi until she lost contact with it, and frankly I couldn't bear to watch another person speak to a dead loved one. Instead, I turned to the lift and walked away.

I truly thought I'd seen the last of the Deathly Hallows. Originally, I'd returned the Elder Wand to Dumbledore's tomb, I'd dropped the Stone somewhere in the forest, and sealed the Invisibility Cloak in my vault at Gringotts under a mound of gold galleons. They stayed there in their respective places for a while, fourteen months to be exact. Then one by one they found their way to me once more.

Dumbledore thought that the tale of the three brothers was simply a myth and that they were most likely extraordinary wizards who created extraordinary magical items. I still don't know the truth. What I do know is that while they don't seem to possess a sentient mind, they are guided somehow against all rational sense, to me.

The last I'd see of them was when I put all three into separate drones and shot them from the _Clunker_ into a black hole not too far away from here actually. They were left behind on Earth when I arrived in this galaxy, but that didn't stop them from finding me. I've tried sending them into a star, burning them with Fiendfyre, and the latest attempt of course. They should have been trapped on the event horizon lost in time and space. Obviously, where magic is concerned, Time and Space are simply minor inconveniences.

Every single time they showed up in my life, they've screwed it up. Well, I shouldn't say that. Suffice to say that every time they pop back up from whatever certain doom I've assigned them, something in my life changes drastically and it's almost always for the worse. Perhaps it's _because_ I've tried to destroy them.

Why would I do something like this? They are obviously some of the most powerful magical artifacts in existence. I could theoretically use them to become some sort of Super Harry with a flowing red cape and a big HP plastered on my chest, righting wrongs, putting things right that once went wrong, all that comic book drivel.

I've had my hero days. I don't want them anymore. They cause nothing but heartache and pain, not only for me but for anyone that I'm near. The Hallows were meant to be used. That's the reason I think they keep coming back. They want to be used. The Stone wants to make you into a blubbering mess that can't function because its user can't let go of the past. The Elder Wand wants conflict. It wants to be the primary weapon in any fight, so much that it even replaces my holly wand and relocates my first choice to my baggage or another pocket.

I still haven't figured out the Cloak. It just wants to be useful, I suppose. It's always the last to show up, usually when I'm doing laundry. There's probably some mystical reason that I'm sure Hermione would love to speculate…

And there I go, drudging up the past.

Ventress didn't have it for too awfully long; a little over an hour. When my door chime went off, I opened it and she gave it back to me without a word. Her eyes were swollen and red. I wasn't about to pry or offer pity. There's nothing to say about seeing someone you'd never think you'd ever speak to again. I used it once since I've been in this galaxy and I swore I wouldn't do it again. I'm not one for self-flagellation anymore.

The Stone was relegated to a pocket on my utility belt along with all the other clutter until I come across some other destructive means to do away with its presence.

~O~

The definition of Flagship never really sunk in my head. I anticipated maybe a heavy cruiser or even a well-armed corvette series ship. The _Invisible Hand_ was a full on military vessel: half carrier, half destroyer, and about fifty times the size of my ship. I shouldn't have been surprised. General Grievous was the Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies. Predictably, he would be riding in the biggest ship they had.

"We're supposed to find a single person on that thing?" I said mostly to myself, but Ventress was standing far too close.

"As I mentioned before, the Viceroy will be in one of four areas."

"Or somewhere en route," I added.

Ventress ignored me. "MK-K1, invert us and bring the _Gimlet_ alongside the seventeenth viewport on the port side. Hold station there until we return."

"Aye-aye, Bossette."

"Lovely," I murmured. "We'll be upside-down."

Turning my head sideways I was able to get a decent enough look at the deck, enough to create a portkey anyway. My partner stared dubiously at the empty rations pack I specifically chose for our trip. After receiving the telltale blue glow of the successfully cast charm, I disillusioned both of us and then checked once more to see if the coast was clear.

"Just one finger and be prepared to duck and roll. We'll be going in upside-down."

"What?"

"You're the one that has us flipped over."

She didn't have the chance to respond to that last part because of the abrupt jerk behind out respective navels. The trip was thankfully short and sweet. Strangely enough I landed on one foot and was able to hop until I regained my balance.

"Huh."

Ventress thumped to the deck beside me with a mild grunt. "I think I prefer teleporting."

There was a faint scent of something oily in the air, but otherwise the _Invisible Hand_ was lacking dust much like the Jedi Temple. I suppose it was because of an all droid crew. I'm not overly fond of places that are cleaner than most hospitals I've visited. There's something inherently unnatural about the whole thing.

"Are you coming?" she asked from further down the passageway.

"You can see me? I wasn't moving."

"I can sense you with the Force. Come, the more time we spend on board the likelihood of detection rises."

As if her announcement was a portent of doom, the cool white lights turned an angry red and the ship's klaxons start blaring.

"Wonderful," I spat. "You had to go and hex us."

She didn't waste any time arguing with me. "I will lead. You protect our rear."

Protecting my rear was exactly what I had in mind as we started running down one of the branch passageways to the first of four rooms. The sounds of battle droids heading our way echoed through the ship and it didn't take long for them to find us.

Ventress ignited her new lightsabers, this time with a blue blade instead of the red she was using previously. The attack was coming from the rear at first. I banished the first few that rounded the corner and then attempted to transfigure one of the blaster rifles into a wooden cane. As in the past, energy weapons didn't take kindly to undergoing such a change and promptly exploded taking out three droids close by.

Ventress batted back blaster bolts to their senders and charged the remaining B1s, decapitating them in the process.

"Move," she nearly yelled. "They'll send more."

The galley was closed down tight and my Alohomora shorted out the locking mechanism so my partner could open the door with her use of whatever Force ability is defined as telekinesis.

"Empty," she snapped. "Conference room."

Another turn and we were running down the central passageway that stretched through almost the entire length of the ship. It's when we started running into closed bulkhead doors where our adventure started coming to a dead stop.

"Where are we?"

"Third deck, forward section," she quickly told me. "Two more junctures to go and we don't have time to cut through these blast doors. They're too heavy for me to open as well."

I sighed with resignation. "Hang on. I'm going to do a blind Apparition… teleportation."

"What? I thought you said…"

One section was just like the any other, so visualization wasn't an issue; her knowledge of the deck plan was. With a firm grip on her arm I Apparated us to through the blast doors to the next section, right in the middle of an entire squadron of B1s, sending two to the floor when we slammed into them.

Ventress threw out her blade, bisecting the four closest before I Apparated us to the next section. I felt her sway for a moment before regaining her equilibrium.

"Don't do that again."

"You needed a solution," I shot back. "I'm here to please."

Once she got her bearings, we were off again and soon standing outside the passage that led to the conference room, which was coincidently guarded by several large droids that I wasn't familiar with.

"Destroyer droids," Ventress hissed. "They're shielded."

"No problem. Watch my back."

There were very few curses that I could use that would break through strong shields and didn't particularly want to blow up a quarter of the ship, mainly because I was in it. Since my opponent was of the non-sentient variety I thought the choice acceptable.

Pausing for a moment to summon up the proper visual of Voldemort standing over me having a joyful time introducing me to his version of the Cruciatus Curse, I opened my eyes and felt suitably murderous.

Popping out the hawthorn wand and rounding the corned I yelled out, "_Avada Kedavra_!"

Two blaster bolts erupted on the bulkhead right beside me, but that wasn't anything compared to the explosion down the hall. Ventress grabbed a hold of my collar and pulled me back, out of the path of the blast, as debris rained all around us.

I chuckled as I attempted to wave away the resulting smoke in vain. "That was a little overkill."

"Pray that did not destroy half the section."

This time I took the lead, banishing all the various pieces of droid scattered all over the place so we didn't trip over anything along the way.

"This one," Ventress pointed out a severely blackened door and we each performed our various tricks.

"We surrender!" came a voice from inside. "Don't kill us!"

My partner brushed past me with both lightsabers leading the way. Once she was inside I sealed the door and then locked it magically. For the time being we were safe.

"Silence," Ventress barked. "You sniveling worm."

Dropping the disillusionment I grinned at the three aliens in the room. "Good afternoon gentlemen. Someone's going on a little trip today."

The only Neimoidian had to be Gunray. Looking around for something to use as a portkey, I found few datapads.

"But first, _Accio_!"

All the contents of their pockets flew out and were scattered on the floor in front of them. I didn't see anything that could be construed as a weapon, but you never know in times like these. The datapad glowed blue for a moment before shorting out. I tossed it to Gunray.

"Hold that," I said before looking at Ventress. "The others?"

"Him." She gestured at a Muun who was almost two meters tall.

"Me?" The guy protested. "Mercy, I'm only a banker."

"Right, and I'm just making a simple withdrawal. Hold this."

Handing over another datapad, he looked reluctant to touch the thing, so I added a little incentive.

"You can hold it, or I can shove it down your throat. It makes no difference to me."

By this time blaster fire could be heard on the other side of the door. We had company.

"Ventress!" I heard someone faintly yelling beyond the bulkhead.

"Friend of yours?"

"Hardly," she replied. "General Grievous."

"What are you going to…" the Viceroy started saying right when the portkey activated and he was whisked away to the magically secure storage room on the _Gimlet_.

The Muun didn't even get a word out in surprise before he followed.

"Right then, ready to go?"

Four various colored lightsabers appeared through the door and started cutting their way through, superheating the surrounding metal until it was glowing almost white hot.

"As much as I would like to end the General's excuse for a life, the mission takes priority."

"A good attitude to have. Shall we?" I said as I held up the ration container we used to get here in the first place.

~O~

"Is there any particular reason you wanted the Muun as well?" I asked soon after Mikki entered the _Gimlet_ into hyperspace.

"He's a banker. Weren't you listening?"

With a grin I dropped down in passenger seating. "Planning to relieve him of a few million credits?"

"If he wants to live beyond the Inner Rim." She looked down at me before taking a seat. "I made a promise to my…."

That sobered me up slightly from the adrenaline crash that was quickly approaching. "He was a shade of the person you knew. That's the lure of the Resurrection Stone."

Her face was blank of emotion as she stared at me with those pale blue eyes.

"It's insidious, showing you a version of the people that you once knew, until you're a shell of yourself hoping that you can find a way to return them to life. That's why I've tried to destroy it, but it keeps coming back."

"Are you saying that Stone is sentient?"

I shook my head as I reached down and removed it from its pouch. "No. However, there is some type of magic that has attached it to me. I don't pretend to understand how it happens; it just does."

A short silence stood between us as I looked at the Stone once more before returning it to its place.

"Then it wasn't Master Narec."

With a shrug I attempted to explain. "It might have been. The magic that created that thing is beyond me. Don't let what he said or didn't say hold sway on your life, Miss Ventress. I've seen what it is capable of, and I've experienced it as well. My parents, my friends, loved ones… I've spoken to them. I think – this is my own personal opinion, mind you – I think that it brings to life your expectations of the person you knew. That it's your inner thoughts that supply it with a voice and knowledge."

It appeared as if she understood what I was talking about.

"You're saying that the promise I made was something that I've wanted to make and this Stone makes me aware of its existence?" she asked.

"Again, perhaps. It's only idle speculation. I've never questioned one of them for any information that I wouldn't already know in order to confirm the truth of the matter."

"Why not? Surely you could see the advantage of having certain knowledge."

I chuckled and leaned back. "To what end, Miss Ventress? You can't rely on it. What if they're lying, or more importantly, what if they're telling the truth? Certain knowledge wasn't meant to be known. Certain things I… I just don't want to know."

Her lips pressed together in her familiar frown before she rose and called the lift. "I will check on our guests."

"Miss Ventress," I said before she left. "The promise. If it's something that you truly want to do then don't let my… eccentricities make you question yourself."

She gave me a return nod. "My name is Asajj. You have my permission to address me as such in private."


	6. Inquisitor

**Note: **Disclaimer in first chapter. Thanks again for all the positive and helpful comments you all have contributed. They are always welcome. For those of you wondering, no, I am not anti-Jedi, and there isn't going to be any unnecessary bashing of the Order. Any views Harry has will be from an outsider's perspective, and he doesn't know much beyond the average person in the SW-verse. Also, for the purposes of this story Obi-Wan is a Jedi Consular; fanboys, keep your obscure "But in such and such place he's listed as a Guardian!" references to yourselves.

**Chapter 6**

Apparently returning to Coruscant with Viceroy Gunray and the Chairman of the InterGalactic Banking Clan, San Hill, two very influential members of the Confederacy Council made certain people look bad. I'm definitely not saying who or pointing any fingers, but there may have been particular Republic Navy high muckety mucks involved and maybe a specific Jedi or two.

"You say you have the ability to infiltrate a Capital war ship, kidnap its passengers and make off without so much as a _by your leave_?"

I glanced over at the Chancellor with a confused look on my face. "Did I say that?"

High General Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi – man these people had a thing for titles – leaned forward onto the table, looking at me pleasantly. "I believe the Admiral is concerned with the same sort of event occurring on any one of his ships."

Well, that made more sense. "I suppose, if you broke it down in layman's terms, that's what I did, but there was more to it than that."

The Admiral cleared his throat, looking as if he was attempting to compose himself. "Would you care to elaborate?"

"Sorry. Top secret; need to know kind of stuff; compartmentalized and all that."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "I assure you I have the highest security clearance there is. The Chancellor can vouch for me."

I glanced over at Palpatine who had been sitting there the entire time proverbially cleaning his whiskers of all the canary feathers. The look on his face when Asajj and I arrived with the prisoners in tow was enough to let me know I'd secured my Christmas bonus for this year, if they had such a thing here that is. Of course, they were a little bit singed around the edges after she withdrew the information we were after from the Viceroy and secured a transfer of funds from the Chairman.

Nute Gunray didn't know squat save for the name of his master and that he always wore an overly large hooded cloak during their conversations. About the only useful thing he told us was that the Dark Lord was probably male and a human. Even that was suspect given the weak mind of the Viceroy, according to Asajj.

"Gentlemen, I am quite aware of the talents of Mister Potter, and I can assure you this line of questioning is unnecessary. He has my full confidence, and I think he's more than proved his loyalties considering that he has delivered the villainous Confederacy Council members to us relatively unharmed. Because of his heroic acts, this Republic can at long last deliver justice to those responsible for causing so much misery."

"Chancellor," The Admiral protested. "The security risks involved…."

"Are mine to shoulder, Admiral. It is why the Senate granted me with the title Commander-in-Chief after all. I consider the subject of his talents, as Mister Potter says, compartmentalized."

Kenobi raised his eyebrows slightly at being rebuffed, but that was all the read I could get off of him.

"Now, if there is no further…" Palpatine was cut off from closing this portion of the debriefing when Kenobi's comm beeped at him.

The Jedi looked up at the Chancellor as he stood. "My apologies, sir. I wouldn't be called unless it was important."

Palpatine waved his arm out to the left. "Use my personal office if you desire privacy, Master Jedi."

He nodded in thanks before disappearing into the next room, while the rest of the occupants of the meeting dismissed. The admiral, more than the others, took his time in leaving, most likely hoping that I'd do or say something that would give him some sort of insight into who or what I was.

"Harry, again you have my thanks on a job well done. I dare say that I laid down a Greater Sabacc when I offered you this job. If only the Jedi were so talented and dedicated."

Well if that wasn't inflating my ego then I didn't know what would top it. "They do the best they can, sir. I have certain advantages that they don't possess which let me excel at what I do. I seriously doubt if you put me in charge of one of their armies, you'd be thinking highly of my performance."

Before we were able to speak any further, Kenobi exited the Chancellor's office and purposefully strode to the desk, looking somewhat disturbed. "Chancellor, I have unsettling news. The Viceroy and the Chairman of the Banking Clan have been assassinated while undergoing interrogation."

Palpatine's face lost a little color, which was saying a lot considering he was pale enough as it was. "How…?"

"The High Council has already begun an investigation since this occurred with two Master Jedi present. The preliminary report suggests heart failure in each instance. One, we might be able to accept as natural, but both occurring within minutes leaves little doubt regarding what transpired."

The Chancellor sighed and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them. "You know what this will look like in the eyes of the citizen planets, not to mention those of the Confederacy that were in the edge of returning to the Republic."

Kenobi appeared reluctant to agree, but he did nod.

When Palpatine glanced over at me I knew without a doubt what he was considering. I don't know how many times Kingsley looked at me the exact same way. Whenever in doubt, send in Harry Potter; most people trust him. The problem was, I wasn't the Boy-Who-Lived and I hadn't recently won a war in this galaxy. On the contrary; I was a bounty hunter, and most people distrusted them. Palpatine was different in that regard. He seemed to relate to most everyone in some way. Everyone – well, probably not the Separatists – but most everyone else had nothing but good things to say about the man. You don't find that too often, much less in relation to those in public office, and especially from a high office.

"I think it would be in the best interests of the Jedi," he started, "if someone from my office were to sit in on this investigation, Master Kenobi. Considering it was Mister Potter that brought them in alive and in good health, I would judge him as neutral a party as we are likely to find on such short notice."

The tight smile on Kenobi's face let me know what he thought of the matter. However, he didn't try to worm his way out of conceding to the Chancellor's wishes.

"Of course, sir." Turning to me, I watched as he painted on a placating smile while gesturing to the office doors. "I've been asked to the High Council Chamber regarding the investigation, if you would care for an escort?"

I was almost as thrilled as he was. "Sure."

"Thank you, Harry," the Chancellor appeared somewhat relieved, but I could tell the incident had shaken him. "Please let me know something as soon as you can, even if it is off hours. My assistant knows how to get in touch with me."

~O~

"Congratulations on the capture; I never did say." Kenobi nodded congenially to me. "How ever did you manage to locate them?"

I realized he was trying to be cordial. What I didn't know is if this was his regular personality, if he was told to be this way, or if it was because of my position. Giving him inconsequential information might tell me more. "I had inside information. Someone I know recently defected from the Confederacy, and they knew the location. The rest was breaking onto the ship, fighting off dozens of droids, and making off with the prisoners."

Kenobi banked the speeder into the flow of traffic circling the Senate and Jedi Temple. "Quite impressive. Most Republic citizens are tested for Force sensitivity by their second life year. Would you mind if I asked where you received your training?"

Smiling knowingly, I shifted in my seat. "I'm not a Force sensitive. It's no secret. Your Master Windu seems to think otherwise, but he would be wrong."

"I see."

The emotions playing on his face told me otherwise. He didn't see; in fact, he didn't know what to think on the matter.

"The Chancellor knows; be satisfied with that fact. He has a very open mind and accepts that there are strange things in life other than the Force."

"I never meant to imply there wasn't," he countered. "The Force is simply the guiding influence in my particular life."

I could see what the Chancellor meant when he said he liked Kenobi. He seemed like an alright sort, somewhat pompous, but we all have our faults. At least he appeared to be the genuine article, a true Jedi.

It didn't take long at all to arrive at the Temple seeing as it was only five kilometers away – they call them speeders for a reason. My Senate staff identification was still hanging off my jacket so the guards barely gave me a glance as I passed. Being escorted by a Master Jedi probably had something to do with not being molested this time as well.

"So, where are the prisoners… or their bodies, rather?"

He glanced at me and continued down the hall toward the southwestern most spire. "Procedure would have the Temple guards process the room in which they expired, and then the bodies would be transferred to the Halls of Healing to determine the cause of death. I would assume, given the time, they are there at present."

This sort of thing seems so typical of governing bodies. Not that the Jedi are such, but they are considered a peace keeping force of a type with strong political connections. I never understood the concept of having an entity investigate itself. Corruption could and often does run pell-mell through organizations that operate this way. I'm a big fan of independent investigations.

"And where would the suspects be held?"

That caused Kenobi to stutter in his step. "Pardon? What suspects?"

"The interrogators: the people closest to the victim when they died. At the very least they should be considered persons of interest, held until they can be questioned, and be ruled out as a suspect."

"I beg your pardon," he said rather defensively. "These are Master Jedi that you are implicating."

Rolling my tongue over my teeth, I tried to see this thing from his side of the fence, so to speak, but seriously… no. "Can I ask you a question?"

Kenobi looked at me oddly. "Of course."

"Try to follow my train of thought here, alright? There's a Dark Lord, a Sith, out there messing about, correct?"

He cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the topic, and didn't exactly answer my question. "Your point?"

"Why can't this Sith be a Jedi? Someone within…"

"Absurd," he turned and began walking away as I moved to catch up.

"Someone within the Order itself could be suspect. Your people are highly trained and it's not like this hasn't happened before… recently. In fact, I was accused of killing him by your Head of the Order."

At this point Kenobi slowed and looked at me again. Frustration flashed for a miniscule moment in time before it was washed away by his training, I assumed, so I pressed on.

"How do you explain Dooku? One just doesn't go from Jedi to Sith overnight, I would guess. This sort of thing takes time and influence, or at the very least a triggering event. Perhaps there is another, a Master. I'm not saying there is, just that the possibility exists. Letting the people closest to the victims, alone in the room at the time of their deaths, I also assume, run free isn't exactly the most circumspect decision at this point in time."

He blinked and licked his lips before answering. "This is the Jedi Order's protocol."

"I get that. I'm just saying that it's not a very well thought out protocol. Now, the interrogators, where can they be found? I'd like to question them and have access to the holos of the questioning that…" Judging by the look on his face I concluded that they didn't do this sort of thing either. "You don't monitor the interrogations, do you?"

"You're a bounty hunter?" he asked. Kenobi looked a tad confused at my line of questioning and requests.

"I haven't always been a bounty hunter, Master Kenobi. On my home planet, I was very much like you at one point in my life: investigator, law enforcement, seeker of people that like to use their gifts for evil. Pick whichever one you want. This isn't my first time hunting down a murderer, just the most recent."

That seemed to have struck something in his mind. What exactly, I have no idea. "This explains why the Chancellor selected you to represent his office in the investigation."

This time it was me that had to stop and think. I'd never said anything to Palpatine about being an Auror. At least I don't think I did. Maybe he just wanted an objective eye and picked me randomly. Then again…

"The High Council awaits, Mister Potter."

We continued on until arriving at a lift to the spire while I searched my thoughts about anything I'd said in the past. If anything, the impression I gave Palpatine was less than law enforcement oriented. I even encouraged him to let me act as an intermediary for my less reputable acquaintances. Speaking of which, I needed to contact Gabe and see if he still makes runs off Korriban. That should probably wait until after I leave the Jedi Temple.

"You seem troubled," Kenobi noticed.

That was yet another thing I didn't exactly like about trained Force users; they're very empathetic, almost to the point of being intrusive. While I didn't have a whole lot to hide regarding my emotions, I'd soon be in the company of several masters. It was a good time to concentrate on my Occlumency.

"Nothing of any consequence."

He watched me for a moment and then twitched slightly. "Your… you closed off your emotions to me."

"No offense, but that little talent that Jedi have is kind of creepy and more than a little rude."

Kenobi seemed to understand. "I apologize. It wasn't my intention to intrude. Jedi are trained to open themselves to the Living Force at all times. As a result we are sensitive to those around us, not to be subversive, but to aid others, hence my concern for your wellbeing."

The sad part was that he was genuinely concerned, or at least he appeared to be. I was betting on the former. "Sorry, it's been a rough few days."

He smiled warmly. "No apology is needed, Mister Potter. Sometimes we need to be reminded how others view the Jedi. Though I am intrigued at how you managed to close yourself off so effectively and yet not be Force sensitive."

"The process is called Occlumency," I explained knowing my definition wouldn't have much meaning to him. "It's the art of closing off one's mind to outside intrusion, Force users included."

"Fascinating," he replied as the lift door opened, depositing us on one of the top floors. "Can anyone learn this?"

"As far as I'm aware, only a small percentage of my home planet would have the ability, much like a select percentage of this galaxy's beings are Force users."

Kenobi nodded in understanding as we came to a stop in front of a pair of double doors. "Thank you for enlightening me. If you would give me a moment with the Council, I will explain the situation and introduce you."

"I'll be here."

The wall held me up fairly well while I leaned with my hands in my jacket pockets. It was just as clean and tidy as any other portion of the Temple I'd visited, with less of an ostentatious feel due to the lack of cumbersome statues they seem to favor for decoration. I didn't even have the chance to contemplate my navel before both door opened and Kenobi stood there with a welcoming gesture.

Only a few Council members were in attendance. The rest were most likely out and about the galaxy in various military engagements. Three were represented by holopresence, none of which I recognized. Windu, some guy breathing through a respirator, and Yoda took up their chairs to the right. Pretty much everyone knew of the Grand Master; if you didn't then you lived in a hole.

"Allow me to introduce the Supreme Chancellor's Hand, Mister Harry Potter."

I smiled brightly for Windu before reaching into my jacket, beating him to the punch, and withdrawing his lightsaber hilt. "I think you gave the guard the wrong lightsaber."

His face appeared pinched as he took it from me and briefly looked it over.

"I didn't even turn it on," I said to ease his mind. "If you can arrange to have mine returned to me…"

He cut me off before I could even finish my request. "The lightsaber in question belonged to a Jedi Padawan who left the Order without returning its property. It has already been dismantled. The Order extends its thanks for its return."

It was said so officially and with a bit of smugness involved that I just stood there and looked at him blankly. "I see. This is how you like to play, then."

"There is no playing involved, Mister Potter. You were in possession of stolen property, no matter how it came into your care."

Giving him a single nod, I said, "I'll remember that."

Eying each Master Jedi in turn I finally came to Kenobi. "The investigation?"

"Results, the Council will be notified of, when complete it is." Yoda announced.

I glanced around for a chair or something, and thought better of taking one of the empty council seats. There was probably some major faux pas with sitting on one without being a member. So, I popped my wand out and conjured a nice ornate armchair to complete the large circle in a very Arthuresque setting.

Once I made myself comfortable I took advantage of the off-putting looks I was receiving. They were wise enough not to show their surprise, but it was evident all the same.

"I'm here representing the Supreme Chancellor to make sure there isn't any cover up from overzealous Jedi Masters pressing prisoners for information. It won't take long for the HoloNews to implicate the Order. I can only imagine the stories they'll be telling."

A middle-aged female Togruta looked at me with disbelief. "Are you suggesting that we killed them on purpose?"

"Suggesting? I don't think I said that. According to Master Kenobi, the people involved in the questioning are currently free to go about their business and your Halls of Healing are determining the cause of death. You don't think that people on say… Ryloth, when they hear two Confederacy Council members entered the Temple healthy and then died while under interrogation… you don't think questions are going to be asked, fingers won't be pointed, accusations won't be made?

"We've weathered worse," Windu replied. "The protocols for situations like this were agreed to in the Senate centuries before you were born."

I didn't get that. "Why would you want to weather it at all? You know what? Don't answer that. Obviously we think differently. Can I get on with my job, or have I been delayed for long enough? Got all the evidence you want to show me all nice and tidy?"

He shifted forward while I stood. "What are you implying?"

"Implying? That I've been sufficiently delayed from seeing the scene of the crime by the Jedi High Council for some unknown reason. I thought perhaps you might have the Masters involved up here for questioning. I was wrong. That was my fault for assuming. So, I'll take the blame for that one."

"Mister Potter," Kenobi said from right beside me. I could only deduce since he was the one that brought me in then he was the one that would escort me out. "There is no cover up. The High Council wants to know how these men died just as much as you."

I sighed and turned to him. "You seem like a nice guy, so I'll give it to you straight. I don't really care how these guys died. They were responsible for millions of death, I'm sure. The thing is, they died on Chancellor Palpatine's watch and _that_, given my job, is something I do care about. If a Jedi is responsible, I'll bring him or them in."

His demeanor turned intense. "You really believe that it is one of our own."

"Truthfully? Doubtful. Other than the guy over here that likes to steal other people's property and randomly accuse people of murder, most of you seem a decent sort, but I'm not one to let personal beliefs get in the way of an investigation. I haven't been that guy for a long time."

Kenobi looked to the side and gave a nod to either Yoda or Windu. "Well then, let's get you to whichever place you want to visit first, and I will introduce you to the Jedi in charge of the investigation."

~O~

Kenobi appeared quite pensive for the entire ride down the lift. It looked as if he'd experienced that emotion quite a lot recently if the worry lines on his face told half the story.

"You're a diplomat?" I asked.

Kenobi blinked and turned his head to me. "What makes you think so?"

I smiled knowingly. "You were the one at the Chancellor's office for the debriefing, and you seem to always know what to say to calm the situation. Plus, I know that's one of the Jedi's main jobs."

He nodded. "I have followed the path of the Consular since I was bestowed my knighthood."

"Which is why you're stuck escorting me around all over the place," I concluded.

"On the contrary, Mr. Potter. I am a member of the High Council and murder within the Temple is something that none of us should or would tolerate. I volunteered and Master Yoda agreed that I should be the one to find the villain responsible… no matter who he should be."

That didn't take too long. "So, you recognize that the possibility exists."

"That we may have a Sith or Sith sympathizer within the Order?" he said that with great difficulty. "The idea is anathema to everything we believe. Nevertheless, as you so succinctly pointed out, one of our own was turned just recently. I cannot, in good conscience, discard the idea simply because I desire it not to be true."

The lift door opened depositing us back on the ground floor. "Let's see Gunray and Hill first."

Kenobi gestured to the right and I followed alongside.

"May I assume you knew Dooku?"

"I did. He was one of my lightsaber tutors when I was a Padawan. Despite how he ended his life, Count Dooku was a credit to the Jedi Order while he remained loyal."

I shook my head. "That wasn't what I was getting at. Think about this for a while: who did he look up to? Who would he follow into something like this? He left the Order for a reason…"

"Master Qui-Gon Jinn's death."

That stopped me in the middle of the hall. "I'm sorry?"

"He was my primary Master while I was a Padawan; Master Jinn. He was killed by a Sith while on a mission to Naboo thirteen years ago. The Count and he were close friends. The latter part of Count Dooku's career consisted of an attempt to withdraw the Jedi from the military arena."

My wrinkled brow was enough incentive for him to continue.

"We are a peacekeeping force as well, and we were being used far too much to quell internal planetary matters where we traditionally do not tread. To put it in simple terms, he thought we were the political pawns of the Senate."

"That's hardly a reason to go all Sith," I said.

"No, it isn't. I believe the turning point was during the Mandalorian Civil War. The Governor of Galidraan lured the so-called True Mandalorians to his world under false pretenses, to dispatch a splinter group. They did so in good faith. However, what they didn't know was that he also lured the Jedi in as well, to dispatch the True Mandalorians. Many Jedi were killed that day, all for the greed of a politician. I believe it was that point where the Count lost his way. My Master's demise was only the death knell of his service."

The rest was virtually served up to me on a platter. "And here the Jedi are fighting a political war as its commanders. Perhaps Dooku was right even though his methods left something to be desired."

Kenobi shrugged with his head as we continued. "There are a number of Jedi that would agree with you."

"Enough to turn against the Order?" I offered.

"That remains to be seen."

When we arrived at the Halls of Healing I was kind of disappointed at the lack of halls. I mean they were pretty much like any other in the Temple: clean, busts of dead Jedi every five feet or so, and the occasional robed person walking past and looking at me like I was out of place.

They kept the dead bodies in a different place than they did the live ones, thank Merlin. Kenobi and I took a single flight of stairs down to a relatively small room where a Rutian Twi'lek was uncovering the body of Gunray. Apparently we arrived just in time.

He turned and frowned when Kenobi opened the door for me. "I prefer solitude when examining the bodies of the dead."

I grinned and approached, steering well out of his way so as not to be a hindrance. "Well, there's been enough of that this morning."

Popping out my holly wand I cast a diagnostic spell that should have told me how he died, not necessarily the cause, but what part of the body ultimately gave out first. This way the Auror can look very knowledgeable while he stands there scratching his chin, saying things like, "_Hmm, bad liver. Was your husband a drinking man_?"

That's about all the good it did. The Ministry was full of virtually every useless spell imaginable, made specifically for this reason. The preliminary report Kenobi spoke of nailed it though; heart failure.

The blue guy had his hand out above Gunray's chest, just hovering there. When I was about to ask what he was doing I saw movement just under the skin. Taking a large step backward I watched as something popped through the tissue: thin, red colored, and it had these little teeth on the end.

The Bantha Biscuit I ate earlier started rolling in my stomach. "What is that?"

Kenobi grimaced. "If I didn't know any better I'd say it was a Lamproid, except it is much too small."

"Sithspawn," the blue guy said. "Reach out with your feelings Master Kenobi."

"Sith-what?" I said edging away a little more.

Giant spiders, dragons, werewolves, no problem; it's the little wormy things that get in your body and wiggle around that give me the willies. I've come across an issue or two of National Geographic with pictures of some backward tribe that was infested with some sort of parasitic worm. To get rid of them they make a little incision in their skin, grab the worm, tack it to some random stick and roll it up. They couldn't just pull it out, because it would eventually break and wind up poisoning the victim. So they had to gently tug it out over the course of a few days. Meanwhile, this person is walking around with a worm-stick hanging off his leg. That particular one was eight feet long. Inside – his – leg. Gag!

Needless to say I've developed a sort of worm-phobia after seeing that. If they're on the ground, then there's no problem, they're pretty slow after all. However, touching me with one of them will get you sent to the healer faster than Ron Weasley can eat a Chocolate Frog.

"Sithspawn," the blue guy said. "At one time this creature was most likely an average Lamproid. Through the process of Sith Alchemy it has been mutated and now serves only a single purpose."

I had to avert my eyes while Kenobi stood there staring away. Of course, I had to take another glance. "I think they would have noticed… Merlin! How long is that thing?

"The scans show the parasite is currently five meters in length and still growing off the sustenance it obtains from the corpse. This is why it is being removed. Allowing it continued growth is ill advised."

Okay, that was enough. I turned and went to wait by the door while my stomach settled. "Um… was it that big going in? I think they would have noticed and probably said something to someone."

"Unlikely," he replied. "They seem to grow at an astonishing rate. My best estimate is that they were exposed between three to five hours ago. I'll know more once I am able to study this further. Now if you don't mind I'd like to finish removing this in private."

"Thank you, Master Che," Kenobi said before I was able to make my escape.

"Okay, that was a seriously horrible way to die."

"Agreed. It leaves no doubt as to who is responsible."

"Sith," I answered. "The next time I go into a room all full of myself and self-righteous, remind me of this."

Kenobi smiled at me, but restrained himself from making a joke at my expense. Kudos for him. "Where would you like to proceed?"

I swallowed down the last of the bile that was trying to make its way out. "Whoever is running the show. They had to be exposed to it somehow. I'll need a list of people that came in contact with them from the moment he left my custody, any food that they ate that was similar, facilities used, the works."

"That would be Master Drallig. He is head of the Temple Security Force not to mention the Order's Battlemaster."


	7. The Emperor's Finger

**Note:** Disclaimer in first chapter. And before you ask at the end of the chapter, no, this story is not coming to a close just yet. Thanks again for taking your time to comment. They are always welcome.

**Chapter 7**

"Unless ordered by the Head of the Order or the Grand Master I will not relinquish any evidence that I've gathered, especially to one of the suspects of the crime," Drallig told Kenobi as matter of fact.

I was wondering when someone would get around to pointing the finger at me. The clock had been ticking on that one. After all, I was alone with the victims for more than enough time to introduce the parasite into their system. That time also fell right on the border of Master Che's estimation of their infection as well. Not to mention I was a bounty hunter and by definition, in the Jedi lexicon, we were untrustworthy scum, blah, blah, blah. Not taking offence at the accusation took considerable effort on my part.

This didn't mean that I had to take it laying down either. "Don't worry about it, Master Kenobi, Drallig is at the top of my suspect list as well. Motive, means, opportunity; it all fits."

Kenobi snapped his head around. "Pardon me?"

I shrugged with my hands firmly embedded in my jacket pockets. "A student and contemporary of Count Dooku who might be sympathetic to his cause, head of security, and… well head of security; means and opportunity right there. Not to mention he has had all the time he needed to cover up or destroy the evidence, if there was any that is."

When Drallig scowled at me I just returned it with a sardonic grin. "That's just so we all know where we stand in the greater scheme of things. You're a Jedi. It really doesn't mean crap to me. So was Dooku."

"Gentlemen," Kenobi said. "I believe we all want to find those responsible, and Mister Potter represents the Supreme Chancellor's interests."

"I know who he is, Obi-Wan." He picked up a datapad and started reading. "Harry Potter, arrived on Coruscant fourteen years ago, _supposedly_ a refugee from the Uncharted Regions, where he was given temporary citizen status. From there he disappeared into the Underworld and made contacts with less than reputable individuals, whereupon he _acquired_ a YG-series light freighter previously owned by…"

"The word you were looking for is _bought_, not _acquired_. There is a distinct difference. And do I get to know everything about your past as well, Drallig?" I asked, cutting off his recitation. "About how you and Dooku used to sit in the Temple break room where he used to wax philosophical about how political the Jedi have been getting recently and how he wishes he could do something about it like train a Sith apprentice to take them down. How fast were you to offer up your CV?"

"Gentlemen!" Kenobi snapped. "This pointless bickering is getting us nowhere."

He stopped to take a cleansing breath while I leaned against the office wall with my arms crossed.

"Master Drallig," he continued. "Please contact Master Yoda regarding the extent of Mister Potter's clearance, so that we may hunt down the real murderer instead of pointing fingers aimlessly at each other."

When Kenobi turned to me I just offered up a brilliant smile. I'd swear it made him pause for a moment.

"Mister Potter, why don't we have a seat."

As I moved for the closest chair I reached down and withdrew the truthstone from my utility belt and kept it in my half-closed fist. "Master Drallig. Are you a Sith or a Sith sympathizer?"

Again he glared at me. "No, Mister Potter. Are you?"

I gave him a nod. "No. Did you have anything to do with the murder of Gunray and or Hill?"

He glanced over to Kenobi and then back to me. "No. Did you?"

"No. Good enough for me. He's clean."

Kenobi finally looked at me like I was a few starships short of a fleet. It was only a matter of time. Everyone looks at me like this eventually, but it usually involves me saying I'm heading out to kill a Dark Lord or something equally as suicidal for the average person.

"All of that talk about motive, and means… that's it?"

I shrugged and looked over to Drallig. "He's just doing his job, pushing my limits while I push back. Posturing is a law enforcement thing. That's why he answered my questions just then. He recognizes the type, kept everything short and sweet, answered the question without any prevarication or obfuscation, and we get to move on. That doesn't mean he's not going to keep his eye on me."

Kenobi blinked and shook his head. "All of this is very aggravating."

It looked as if he had been running around solving one problem after another for at least a decade. Even the most seasoned person would have been beaten down. I highly doubted the Jedi have chances to take a vacation or something as equally soothing since the war broke out. I guess there was something to be said for meditation. I hear they're big on that.

"This is the second time you've mentioned you were a professional at one time," Kenobi said as he prepared to press for a little more information on me. "Why didn't you join the local constabulary once your citizen status was formalized?"

I shrugged as I propped up a leg on my knee and leaned back onto the semi-comfortable chair. "In comparison to this one, I come from a very low-tech world. It would have taken me years to build the needed skills. Hunting bounties was suited to my talents and I had to eat."

"Hmm, then you met Chancellor Palpatine."

With a chuckled I shook my head. "No. I brought in a bounty that was initiated by the Jedi. Master Windu was the one that brought in the Chancellor after he accused me of killing Dooku."

"Did you?" he asked as a matter in passing.

"No. The answer is the same. I was on Tatooine to replace my hyperdrive or find a new ship. I found a new ship came here to look for work and found my bounty. The Chancellor was nice enough and intelligent enough to recognize my talents."

"Now here you are, returning to your professional roots," Kenobi added.

"Not quite, but it is refreshing to actually work a case once more, even if I don't carry a badge."

"I see. If you don't mind my asking, what does the Chancellor's Hand actually do?"

Once I saw a mildly disgruntled Drallig heading our way I made the explanation quick. "I'm a problem solver, Master Kenobi. The rest you'll have to ask the Chancellor."

Drallig handed my escort a datapad and looked at me. "You have access to the conference rooms where the prisoners were being held and permission to view any evidence concerning the incident. You will not move around the Temple at any time without an escort."

Pushing up off the chair I gave him an equal sort of stare. "I assume you and your team already trampled all over the crime scene. You have a list of all the people they've been in physical contact with?"

"That would be here, Mister Potter," Kenobi replied. "Shall we?"

He led the way out while I looked over the list which was broken down very well in a timeline.

"I've already sent a request to the two security personnel that interviewed the Viceroy and the Chairman. They will meet us in the conference room where the incident took place."

~O~

It was a bust, virtually the entire day. The only thing useful I found out was the cause of death and how the wormy things were created. I take that back. I also found out that the Jedi didn't enjoy being investigated. Aside from Kenobi, the rest were tight-lipped, almost as if they were coached to say as little as possible. While I had ruled out the people surrounding Gunray and Hill before they died, I hadn't felt satisfied that someone within the Temple wasn't at the heart of it all.

Asajj had more than enough opportunity to simply kill them on the Gimlet. Besides, she was more confrontational than that. From what I've seen of her, she would insist on them knowing it was her that was the catalyst of their death, and most likely it would be at the end of her lightsaber blade. That left me, and I know I didn't do it.

Then again, the whole situation was simply too neat, as if someone knew the prisoners were being brought in and were prepared to kill them in order to keep their mouths shut. That didn't make any sort of sense, because they really didn't know anything of any consequence. They hadn't even seen their boss's face.

Perhaps Dooku died a little too early in the game. Here I am with possibly the number two, three, and four guys in charge when I seriously needed number one, the Sith, Sidious. His reach was long if he managed to act that quickly upon arrival, either that or we were looking at an inside job, which again brought me back around to the Jedi.

"You're over-thinking the situation," Asajj said as she picked at the last of her meal while under the protection of her disguise token.

We were out at one of the bright and shiny places located in the Upper Level of Coruscant. I didn't even see a name to the place outside. I suppose if you didn't know where it was or couldn't afford to eat there then you didn't belong. There were some perks of actually having a paying job and a snazzy title to go along with it. The tables had actual cloth on them. The plates were small and the meal even smaller, not to mention overpriced. If that didn't spell high-class then I didn't know what did.

"How so?"

"Nobody knew when we would return," she mentioned. "That means the first moment anyone could have been notified of our presence was when your employer came out to greet the prisoners."

"Palpatine?" I almost choked. "He's ancient and looks like he might drop from a work-stress related heart attack. He's no Sith."

She looked at me as if I was stupid. I seem to get that a lot from her. "Don't be obtuse. His personal staff, his personal security, Senate security, and then soon after, the Jedi; far too many people were alerted to the fact that we had them in custody."

I sighed and laid my fork down. "So we could have a sleeper anywhere along the line."

"A sleeper?"

"Oh… an agent of the Sith, planted in a regular job, that would otherwise go about their daily activities until activated for a mission."

She pondered that for a moment. "A wise course of action, however it is doubtful. I suspect that Sidious himself is on Coruscant."

That threw me. "Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the Jedi Temple, you know, being right over there, be a bad thing for someone like him? With all the Jedi running around and all, I mean."

After setting her drink aside she glanced at one of the customers getting up to leave before turning her calculating eyes on me. "You are aware that I have the ability to mask my Force presence. Even when I was fighting for them I was never one of them. Dooku was the apprentice; imagine what talents a true master would possess."

This was news to me. I knew there were all sorts of little tricks they could perform against a less than organized mind. That he was capable of pulling this off against the best the Jedi had to offer wasn't news I wanted to hear.

"Would you be able to spot him if you were close by?" I asked.

"Unknown. I am familiar with his true presence; that alone might give me an advantage the vaunted Jedi do not possess. Why?"

Taking my glass of claret as I leaned back, I held it up for an informal toast. "You've just become my official associate. Where I go, you go. This way you'll be able to see virtually everyone up close."

She frowned, but I did notice it hadn't fallen in her traditional scowl. I surmised that she thought the idea had some merit. "This is ill-advised. One slip, one moment where my concentration falters, and I will be facing off against the collective might of half a dozen law enforcement agencies not including whatever Jedi might be slithering around."

Asajj paused and glanced to the Temple outside the window of the restaurant. "I like it."

"Your new identification can stand the scrutiny?"

"Of course."

"Good, I'll contact the Chancellor and see if he can arrange the clearance. I got to be a Hand. Maybe you can be a Finger or something."

~O~

It wasn't quite as easy as that. Palpatine was working late so he insisted on meeting my mysterious companion that I never felt the need to introduce to him. He made a point to stress that last part.

"Miss White," he said after I presented her. "It is a distinct pleasure to meet you. Harry here has been very protective of his associates."

Asajj's hands were clasped behind her back as she bowed slightly toward him. "The pleasure is mine, Chancellor Palpatine."

I watched as he noted the lightsabers hanging off her utility belt with some interest. "You were a Jedi at one time?"

"Not formally. The master I served under was stranded on the same planet I was in my youth. He was killed before my training was complete. Since then my training has been… inconsistent."

Palpatine nodded knowingly. "I see. You never wanted to join the order on an official basis?"

Asajj barely frowned. "I do not have any loyalties to the Jedi, Chancellor. Considering my work with my associate, Mister Potter, they would not be welcoming of me or my methods."

"Oh my," Palpatine chuckled. "That does sound ominous."

That was the point where I thought it best to jump in, before things got a little too personal. "It was Miss White that made it possible to capture Gunray and Hill, Chancellor. Between the two of us I think we'll have a much easier time tracking down the party responsible for their murder."

He appeared somewhat contemplative as he took a seat behind the desk. "Miss White, would you mind letting me have a few moments with your associate?"

She bowed her head in respect. "Of course. I will await you in the outer office."

When the door closed behind her, Palpatine's eyes tracked to me. "An interesting woman, this Miss White."

He was pressing me for information in his now familiar roundabout way. "In the time I've known her, she's been professional, no outside interests, an excellent fighter, and she's a Force sensitive… something that I need in order to hunt down the perpetrator."

"Hmm, you think it's a Jedi?" he said, feeling me out.

"I think the person behind all of this is the same person behind this war, Dooku, the Separatists, and I think he's here on Coruscant, somewhere between this building and the Jedi Temple."

Palpatine's eyes widened as he leaned back on his chair and looked to the side, considering what I said. "The Jedi think it is a Sith Lord. I take it by your summation that you're considering this as well?"

"Darth Sidious is his name," I offered.

His eyes darted to me. "Sidious. What evidence have you gathered?"

I shrugged. "Mostly word of mouth. That's who Gunray took his orders from. Right now, I suspect someone within the Temple grounds at the moment, possibly one of the older Jedi considering the amount of talent he would have to possess to stay hidden around here."

He nodded obviously seeing my train of thought. "And you think Miss White might be able to narrow the field, so to speak?"

"Possibly… better than I'm capable of at any rate. I've ruled out a number of people, but I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of the Order."

Palpatine sighed and rubbed at his temple. "This news is tragic; to think that a member of such an august body might be capable of such deceit."

"Every organization, no matter how good their motives, has a dark side, Chancellor. We can't afford to think of them as incorruptible, not them, not even your own staff."

He pressed his lips together at my mentioning something so close to home. "Of course, you're correct. It is a war we're fighting after all. There are bound to be sympathizers, those that wouldn't give betrayal more than a passing thought."

I sat there for a few moments and let him ponder the idea his own staff might not be trustworthy.

"Consider Miss White on your own personal staff," he said, breaking the silence. "I trust you'll be responsible for her actions? She seemed to be a very… seasoned individual."

That was one way of putting it. "Focused, Chancellor. Miss White is focused on finding the murderer as much as I am."

Palpatine nodded in understanding. "I'll have my assistant draw up the proper clearances. Good hunting, Harry."

~O~

"Look at you, all respectable now."

Asajj didn't even bother to look at me as we boarded the transport to the Temple, but she did straighten her security badge while I sent a message to my less than reputable antiquities dealer and gave him a private and nameless contact number for the Chancellor. There wasn't any need to let all this investigating take away my opportunity to make a few credits on the side.

After acquiring one of the speeders, Asajj took the controls and banked us out of the Senate District and on a beeline path through all the traffic to the ventilation shaft of the Underworld. She seemed more than tense the entire way and it was making me slightly uncomfortable.

"You do realize there's a bounty out on me. Returning to the Underworld probably isn't the safest course of action at the moment."

She glanced at me and started shaking her head. "The bounty was called off the morning after you disposed of Bane."

Well that was good news, however odd. One normally doesn't put the money up and then take it down right after unless they've been reached out and touched, usually by the person whose head it was on. Casually glancing over to what passes for a speedometer in this galaxy I noted she was pushing the upper limits of the speeder.

"Are we in a rush?"

"Yes."

"I see." I really didn't see. "Any particular reason?"

"Yes."

Once we exited the shaft, Asajj banked the speeder hard enough to make me brace against the door. I didn't bother asking her anymore questions. I'd hate to distract her at just the wrong moment and have us go splat against any number of obstacles along the way to wherever she was going. When we pulled in front of the Outlander Club I was confused even more. They didn't offer many services beyond drinking and gambling. Well, they did, but one doesn't speak of those types of things in mixed company.

"Fancy a drink?"

Again she ignored me while we exited the speeder and she led the way inside. I followed along, keeping a watchful eye on my surroundings. Just because the bounty had been lifted didn't mean someone actually took the time to check. No matter what time of day it was, there was always a crowd; it just thinned out between pod races and nuna-ball matches.

"A bottle of Abrax," Asajj said as she approached the bar. "And a private room."

Apparently we did speak about these sorts of things in mixed company. Not that she wasn't attractive in an exotic way, but I've mixed business with pleasure before. It really doesn't work all that well, especially on my end of the deal.

"Are we celebrating something?" I asked.

She took note of the bartender and flung an arm around my shoulder, reeling me in at the same time. I hadn't specifically noted how strong Asajj was, but at that moment I had a bad feeling I was about to be made someone's bitch, and Harry Potter doesn't play that game. Well, not since Hannah Abbott conveniently forgot the keys to the handcuffs at the office that one weekend. The cuffs were proof against magic and I… nevermind.

The bartender put the bottle of Abrax on the counter while Asajj produced her credit chip to have everything charged off her account. She handed the bottle to me and took the two provided glasses herself. Down one level we went until we found the right room. Her demeanor cooled once we left the gaming floor and I assumed she wanted a bit of privacy or something, hence the public place, the really noisy place, and the private room. She didn't really strike me as the affectionate type, quite the opposite really. In fact, I think Asajj was asexual. It could happen.

Once the door was closed, I threw up an Imperturbable and Muffliato Charms. Together, that was enough to stop virtually anything physical and mechanical from spying on us.

"Okay, what's going on?"

She plucked the bottle from my hand and poured us each a glass of aquamarine colored cognac.

"Tell me about Palpatine, from the beginning, the first time you met him."

That was an odd request. Naturally, I tried to think of a reason why she would want to know. It could have been because she only just met him and here he was giving her the secondary keys to the city. Even I admit that was a little trusting on his part. Then again it could have just been because I recommended her.

"Like I told you already, I brought a bounty in to the Jedi and Mace Windu pulled me into a room to interrogate me for Dooku's murder. He left for a while and then came back with the Chancellor in tow."

She sipped at her glass and had a seat on one of the two chairs in the room. It wasn't much: a squared off four walls, tiny table, two chairs and a decent sized bed. It was bland; people didn't normally come to places like these to critique the decorations.

"That didn't strike you as odd?"

With a shrug I knocked back half the contents of the glass. "The Head of the Order questioning me struck me as odd. After that, the Chancellor wasn't such a big deal. I'm guessing they're pod racing buddies or something."

"Hardly," she replied. "Then what?"

"Then we went to his office, talked, I did a little magic show for him, and he offered me this job. Now why are you…?" Then it clicked. "You think he's the Sith?"

Her eyes fluttered close as she finished off the glass and sighed afterward. "Did you happen to notice the bronzium statues, the Sith artwork: the chalice, the bas-relief? That doesn't strike you as strange considering what we're doing here?"

I made to counter her paranoia with my own observations about how owning art didn't make one a Sith, it just made them weird. Rich people are like that the universe over. They liked to own stuff, specifically art, that wasn't exactly legal, but then again I only noticed the incense burner. I once knew of a rich Jewish guy back on Earth that collected paintings all done by Hitler; it didn't make him evil, just a freak.

"Contrary to popular belief, art collectors aren't normally megalomaniacal evil guys looking to take over the galaxy. Besides, the Jedi have been in that room dozens or even hundreds of times. If they can't spot what is…"

Asajj slammed her hand down on the table. "How many times to I have to tell you that the Jedi are clueless? They are blind when it comes to this particular Sith Lord. They scurry around reacting to event after event instead of looking at what is right under their noses… much like you are behaving, only adding their judgmental and sanctimonious attitudes whenever they choose to bless someone with their presence."

I topped off my glass and took a seat as she glared at her cognac.

"Did you get a read off of him?" I asked.

"No. If it was him then he is far too powerful to let someone of my training see through his façade. Though there was a scent in that office. I can't quite place where I know it from, though it is familiar."

With a nod, I sipped at my glass. "So, we've got a lot of evil art, and a smell. That's not exactly actionable evidence there, Asajj. Let me tell you what I see."

She pursed her lips and waved her hand in assent.

"The Chancellor is a lot like any other person. He has his quirks, like we all do, except his is geared toward acquiring weird things. When it comes to his job though, don't you think we might have seen some sort of clue that he's prepping for galactic domination? I mean he's already the leader of the galaxy, at least the Republic portions. There aren't many positions much higher. So, he's rich and he's the most powerful person there is. What more could he want?"

Asajj didn't even wait a second before she chuckled bitterly. "You obviously don't think like a Sith. The quest for power never ends. There is no ultimate goal; there are only stepping stones along the way."

Leaning back on the chair I considered that. "Okay, say you're right. Say he's Sidious and that he's planning galactic domination. Don't you think openly displaying the Sith stuff in his office is a little… I don't know, obvious? Wouldn't that upset his stepping stones or whatever?"

"Perhaps," she answered. "Then again he may simply be taunting the Jedi, or testing himself and his prowess. He will not strike until he is confident, until all the pieces are in place."

I chuckled and took a sip of the cognac. "You really are paranoid."

"Consider this then: the bounty on your head, it was conveniently placed directly after you met him. Dooku did something similar with me. If we couldn't pass their tests then we weren't worth their time. Don't you find it fortuitous the day after you accept the position, the bounty was called off?"

"Okay, that's not exactly subtle. It could be mere coincidence."

Asajj moved the bottle out of the way, I supposed to see me without any distractions.

"You seem to be unaware of certain aspects of the Force. There – is – no – coincidence. Do you not find it strange that of all the hundreds of trillions of people in this galaxy that we should meet on a backward planet such as Tatooine?"

Glass in hand I lazily pointed at her. "You sought me out. That's not the same thing as random happenstance."

"That is where the Force comes into play. I sought _someone_ out, not necessarily you."

With a grin I set aside my glass. "Okay, I'll play this game. I suppose the Force killed my hyperdrive on the _Clunker_ as well?"

"Perhaps it extended the life of your hyperdrive until you were able to arrive on that particular planet."

I found it funny that the Force was like the dating service from hell. "So we hook up, do random and fun things like tagging an aspiring Sith Lord, travel to Coruscant…"

"Brentaal," she interjected. "Where you randomly offered me a ride to Coruscant; another coincidence?"

"You're confusing coincidence with common courtesy," I countered.

Asajj tilted her head. "Answer me this: why did you choose that particular criminal to capture which led you to the Jedi Temple?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but it just hung there. "I…

What are the odds that a bounty would just randomly spot me in front of Tesh's place and confront me even when I wasn't paying him any attention.

"Was his bounty that high?" she asked.

After clearing my throat I tried to shrug off the wary feeling that was starting to creep down my spine. "Um, he uh… he spotted me actually. I didn't even know he was wanted."

She spread her hands and leaned back. "Do you still believe these are all random occurrences or perhaps there may be a greater _Force_ at work?"

"Fine. Not that I'm subscribing to all this, but I'm willing to consider Palpatine as _a_ suspect; maybe not _the_ suspect, but one of many."

"Acceptable. Would he have had opportunity to commit the murders?"

Crap. If she was right then I'd never be able to live this down.

"He was one of the first to see Gunray and Hill, but if he was a Force user then he wouldn't exactly need to touch them physically, would he?"

"No, he would not. I could perform the same trick without any effort."

I nodded and thought of anything else to add to the pot. "Why would he assign me to this murder investigation? Eh, probably to steer me away from looking at him, nevermind. Why would he even know that I'd be qualified?"

Asajj looked over her glass at me. "Force sensitives, even with minimal training have the ability to experience visions."

"You mean like prophecies?"

"Perhaps. Others can experience the past or even the present. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that he has seen portions of your life. This would further explain why he took you on in the first place."

"You're saying he saw me coming."

"These visions; they are not complete stories. Consider them moments in time, mere seconds. He wouldn't know your darkest secrets unless you made them available to him."

That was a bowel loosening thought. Most of my secrets were left back on Earth, but I would think that I have a few here in this galaxy. I'd also like to think that they'd remain right where they were. There wasn't anything that would land me in prison considering the there is no Statute of Secrecy out here, and I also had the pardon that he gave me.

I rolled my eyes and groaned. "The pardon; what better way to endear himself to me."

"Are you convinced that Chancellor Palpatine is in fact Darth Sidious?" she asked.

"Convinced? No." I shrugged. "I admit that a lot of circumstantial evidence points his way. The only thing we don't have is proof that he's Force sensitive or a smoking gun. Throw that in the mix and that would answer a lot of questions."

Asajj huffed and tossed back the remainder of her drink before setting the glass aside. "He will not reveal himself so easily, and if you managed this improbable feat then your life would most likely be forfeit. He would be a formidable foe. Even pitting a dozen Jedi against him, I would put my credits on Sidious."

"Why?"

"If he is the Dark Lord then there will be no limits that he will not go to in order to eradicate his enemies. If a thousand innocents have to die in order for him to be safe then they will die… tens of thousands, millions, the entirety of Coruscant. They are nothing but pawns to throw in front of the blades of the Jedi, who would sacrifice themselves or their brothers for single person."

Few people are that powerful. Given a total lack of morals I could probably take on a dozen Jedi and walk away unscathed. I wouldn't fight fair and I could use every means at my disposal even at the spur of the moment. He would have had years to set the stage to his advantage. That wasn't something I wanted to hear. Going after someone who put a bounty out on me was one thing; knowing he might have his finger poised over a proverbial doomsday Armageddon weapon or Sith power or whatever meant things just got a tad complicated.

"So, our options are to confront him and possibly have some sort of epic battle that might or might not end the lives of far too many innocents, or tag him unaware much like Dooku. That is _if_ he is this Darth Sidious; I'm still not convinced. If he's not then we've just killed the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. Yeah, I'm not seeing an upside to any of these options. We could tell the Jedi."

Asajj laughed. Maybe it was the alcohol. On the plus side she didn't smile and it wasn't too eerie of a laugh.

"Yes, I could imagine Windu thoroughly underestimating Sidious, arriving in his office with one or two of his underlings in tow. Perhaps I could be inordinately lucky for once and Skywalker would be there as well."

My head was already getting muddled playing one scenario after another. "Options?"

"Run," Asajj replied. "Find the deepest hole you can manage on the edge of the galaxy and hope he never finds you. You wouldn't like to know what he might be capable of. I have viewed Sith holocrons before. Some powers of the dark side even made me turn away."

"You?" That surprised me. I always had her pegged as getting the job done and damn the consequences or what she had to do in order to make sure she came out on top.

She threw a look at me and grabbed the bottle to fill her glass once more. "I have always had purpose. I wanted what was mine, and there was one time I had it, before Kenobi and Skywalker came to my world and I began this… quest for retribution."

I held my glass in front of my mouth as I tried to picture that.

"I was taken from Dathomir and sold into slavery, Harry Potter. Then one day a man came and freed me with no thought to his own safety. He became my master." Asajj paused, barely sipped before staring into the depths of the cognac. "We moved from settlement to settlement, freeing the people of Rattatak. Then the warlords killed him, hired a worthless, no-talent thug to shoot him in the back with a blaster. I took my master's lightsaber and killed all of them. It was me that freed that planet."

My glass found its way to the table and I was feeling more sober than I was even before we started drinking.

"They built me a palace as a reward and I lived there, we all lived there in relative peace… until the wars started and the Jedi came. They'd forgotten about my master, you see. He was so sure they would send reinforcements, that the Jedi would win the day, right up until his dying breath. So you'll understand how I have absolutely no confidence in their ability to do anything properly much less treat Sidious with what he is due."

"That's why you joined the Sith," I concluded.

"Yes; peace is a lie," she spat. "It was anger and hatred that bought me revenge against my enemies." She smiled whimsically. "Then again, betrayal is the way of the Sith. I learned that lesson far too late."

"Dooku," I surmised.

She looked over her glass and pulled back as if she was studying me. "You have become insightful… _finally_. Yes, Dooku. He said that I wasn't powerful enough to defeat Kenobi and Skywalker on my own. My hatred wasn't great enough."

"The implants he talked about on Tatooine."

Asajj nodded and topped off her glass. "The Battle of Boz Pity; I was thrown at them then, fresh out of the Bacta tank. My anger knew no bounds until I was so out of my mind with rage that I was eventually cut down. It was then that I realized I had been betrayed once more."

"You've had your revenge, Asajj."

She raised her glass to salute me. "All thanks to you. However, all thanks to you and that damnable stone I have grown a conscience as well. My master or my inner thoughts… one of them wants me to hunt down Sidious and turn him in to the Jedi instead of attempting revenge and being slaughtered in return. You should be cursed, Harry Potter."

It was my turn to smile back. "There are those who think I already am."

I still wasn't completely sure about Palpatine. That disposed of any thoughts regarding taking him out like we did Dooku. While my morals over the last decade have become more ambiguous than I normally would have liked, I wasn't quite that cold-blooded just yet. That pretty much left only one option.

"I'll talk to Kenobi tomorrow morning."

Asajj screwed up her face, but held back from saying anything. She really was doing much better after having those rage implants removed. At least there weren't any more pulsing veins involved.

"He's my liaison to the Jedi. It's not like I personally picked him or anything."

After a long pause while she finished off her cognac and set her glass down, she said, "Very well."

"Cheer up. Once I do this, we can go off, maybe take a vacation or something. Oh, I know! We can go back to Dathomir and you can ride some rancors, tear up the countryside, chase down some of those giant spiders…." She didn't seem to be too enthused with the idea. "Or not."

"How about Zeltron?" I offered as another option. "They don't believe in monogamy there. You could get yourself a couple of the local guys… no, that probably wouldn't be a good idea either. You wouldn't look good with pink guys draped on you."

"Cease your feeble attempts at levity. I will remain here until I am satisfied the Jedi have not bungled yet another chance to end this war. If they confront him and he shows his true colors, defeating them as I suspect he will, then you and I will end him… irritable conscience or not."


	8. Washing My Hands

**Note: **Disclaimer in first chapter. Thanks once more for your comments. They are greatly appreciated.

**Chapter 8**

_16:3 GrS (19 BBY)_

My heel was bouncing a staccato beat against the polished floor of the temple conference room as I awaited Kenobi's arrival. There aren't many times that I've pretty much come out and accused the leader of an entire galaxy of possibly being a Dark Lord. Counting this one I've come to a grand total of one. After checking my chrono for the fifth time in thirty minutes I got up and started pacing in front of the transparisteel window that gave me a good view of the Senate building.

I'd left Asajj to gather some supplies. Restocking the _Gimlet_ was our first order of business. I wanted to make sure if everything went sour that we were prepared to bolt. A few Extension Charms on some shipping crates went quite a way in terms of disappearing for long periods of time. If we found somewhere temperate, we could live off the local flora and fauna for quite some time. A couple of new disguise tokens, a few thousand credits to the right slicer, and a new life could begin. That was a last resort, of course. I had every intention of expressing Asajj's thoughts on how powerful this guy could be, and then keeping my name out of the equation if at all possible.

If they looked into the possibility and Palpatine wound up not being the Sith then I could go back to business as usual. If he turns up being Sidious then I already figured out how to deal with the mess. I'd pop up say hi, release a nice wave of Fiendfyre into his office, and then disappear. Nothing survives that; I don't care how powerful of a Sith he is; all beings bowed to the cursed fire. The only thing someone could possibly do is outrun it or apparate away, and since he wasn't a wizard – well then, problem solved.

Maybe I should use a disguise token if it comes down to that. I'd really hate to change my face on the run.

"Mister Potter," an unfamiliar voice said bringing me out of my musings.

Turning around I spotted a single moderately young Jedi, with blondish colored wavy hair down to his shoulders and an angry vertical scar running above and below his right eye. It looked like he barely escaped having his face cleaved in two. Judging by the black robes and hooded eyes I assumed this was Asajj's nemesis and hero of the Republic, Anakin Skywalker.

"Master Kenobi couldn't make it?" I replied.

"He has an emergency meeting with the Chancellor. Obi-Wan asked me to meet you in his place."

"Pleasure," I said while he looked me over.

"He tells me that you work for the Chancellor."

I short-answered him. "Troubleshooter."

"We have our share of that."

At least I knew we weren't bugged. That didn't stop me from laying down a couple of protections, just in case. He watched me with interest and was probably wondering why I was waving a stick of wood around.

"What did you just do?"

I walked around the table to take what was becoming my traditional seat. "The first charm was to seal the room. Nobody comes in or goes out without me knowing. It's proof against technological eavesdropping as well. The second one was just in case I missed something with the first. Even if someone managed to bypass the first protection, all they would hear would be an annoying buzzing sound."

He raised an eyebrow. "And you did all of this with that…"

"Wand. Think of it as my lightsaber; while I can do interesting things with it doesn't mean I'm helpless without."

Skywalker looked as if I'd lost a few credibility points along the way with that explanation. We weren't going to get very far if he didn't believe what I was capable of selling, so to speak, so I conjured my tea service from the _Gimlet_ and started doling out cups. He looked at the contents with skepticism before I had to reassure him.

"Go on. It's just regular tea. If I poisoned you I think it might ruin my credibility around here."

He took his untainted by sugar or cream. "Are you in the habit of being accused of poisoning people?"

"Not recently." Skywalker paused and looked down at his tea. "I'm kidding; just a little joke to break the tension."

If I didn't know any better, I'd swear he faked a sip at the edge of the cup before setting it aside.

"Obi-Wan mentioned an update on the investigation."

"Yes, um…," I managed to get out before settling on how I was going to do this. "May I ask you a question regarding this Sith Lord you're searching for?"

"You think the person who killed the Viceroy and the Chairman was the Sith?"

"I do."

Skywalker looked away for a moment in thought. "That would mean he is on Coruscant."

"I believe he is; that's part of my question. Would you be able to sense him if he was?"

His face darkened and I could easily see the frustration underneath. I already knew the answer to this particular question; I just wanted to see how justified Asajj's poor opinion of them actually was, or if it was just her hatred of them clouding her judgment.

"If he was here and we could sense him, then he'd be captured or killed already."

With a nod of understanding I followed up with another, "So, what does that tell you about his power that he can hide from some of the strongest Force sensitives in the galaxy?"

"Do you have a point to all this?" he almost snapped back at me.

Something tells me that certain Jedi didn't like their faults rubbed in their faces, which wasn't my intension with this line of questioning. "Yes. I'm trying to get you to see things from an outsider's perspective, because apparently the Jedi are too single-minded."

Before he had the chance to shoot back, I continued.

"I've got a gigantic list of suspects, most of which are in this Temple."

He blinked and then looked at me as if I was suddenly the enemy. "You can't honestly believe that the Jedi had anything to do with what happened."

Casually pointing my finger at him I leaned back. "That right there is what I'm talking about. The prime suspect has to be someone that is Force sensitive, and to add insult to injury he has to be stronger than anyone here. Now, who does that leave on my list?"

From the look on his face I saw that I was making my point. He was disgruntled, but saw that it was impossible to take the higher echelon Jedi completely off the game board.

"If you're accusing me…"

"What?" Even I had to take a metaphoric step back on that one.

"Me. I'm the strongest Force sensitive at the Temple."

That new information threw me off. Taking my tea cup in hand as a distraction, I palmed the truthstone out of my utility belt. "I didn't know that. You're not on the Council?"

"No."

"Well then. I suppose you'll need to be questioned as a matter of course. Are you a Sith?"

He pushed away from the table and stood abruptly. "This is ridiculous. You don't have a clue who the Sith is and you're just pointing fingers."

Setting my cup down, I didn't bother to respond to his accusation. "That wasn't an answer."

"No," he barked. "I'm not a Sith. This is over with."

Seeing no response from the truthstone I watched as he strode over to the door and pressed the activation stub for it to open, but it stayed shut due to my charm.

"I believe you, and we're not finished."

Skywalker jabbed at the stub again and then raised his hand to the door. To my surprise it started to edge open, but not enough for him to leave just yet. I suppose he really was a strong Force user.

"When did it start?" I asked. "The whole Dark Lord of the Sith thing."

He spun on me and I watched as the door slid closed. "What?"

"The Sith? When did you first suspect that there was someone screwing around with the Jedi?"

Skywalker took a breath and then let it out almost as quickly before the frustration he was exhibiting faded back into the darkened façade that he was wearing earlier. Instead, he looked me over and I felt the slightest touch against my mind as if he was using his powers in an attempt to figure me out.

"I was ten. Year three, GrS."

The Great ReSynchronization. The Republic likes to toss up new calendars every once in a while and base them on galactic events. This particular one was only sixteen years old. That would put his age right around twenty-three, give or take a year. Updating calendars always messes around with the months. Sometimes they start the whole thing off in the middle of a year, which just makes it worse.

"I saw my first Sith then. According to my master, things were already clouded at that time."

History wasn't one of my strong suits. I made it a point to note some important events or dates as to not look like a rube, but I never sat down and took the time to actually study.

"Anything big going on at the time: battles, system wars, anything like that?"

Skywalker looked at me oddly. "The Trade Federation invaded Naboo."

Naboo again. That planet was popping up left and right lately: my ship's origins, the Chancellor's home planet, and now the invasion of the Trade Federation. Normally, I'd attribute it to coincidence, but I'd already been spanked recently on thinking about things like that.

"That's where you saw the Sith?"

"He was killed there by Obi-Wan," he said as he approached the table. "What are you getting at?"

I wasn't exactly surprised to find yet another link to my employer, but it was still far too circumstantial. This was the tricky part: getting Skywalker and subsequently the Jedi to think of Palpatine as a suspect without me outright saying he was. It was the only way I could think of to keep my name out of the mix just in case we were wrong and there was blowback.

"Well, we already know the Viceroy was taking orders from the Sith…"

We were interrupted by a chime sounded at the door. Popping my wand out I swiped the charm away and found a somewhat annoyed Obi-Wan Kenobi standing there eying the door like it was malfunctioning. When he spotted my wand he looked as if he connected the two and raised an eyebrow at me.

"I don't want just anyone listening in," I said in my defense.

The door shuddered close; my magic was already starting to play havoc with the operating mechanism. Having Skywalker forcing it open earlier probably didn't help, neither, I assume, did my reapplying it directly after.

"How is the Chancellor?" Skywalker asked.

"The emergency was related to Grievous," Kenobi said. "We'll speak of this later."

In other words, out of my earshot. "We were narrowing down the field of suspects, if you'd like to jump in with your thoughts."

He smiled genially. "Of course. What have you deduced up to now?"

This was almost too easy of a set up. I couldn't have timed Kenobi's arrival any better.

"Someone that's been around in some authority since year three on the GrS. He has been on Coruscant at least that long since he has had an effect on clouding your abilities to sense him. He'd have to have the ability to move the chess pieces around the board, so to speak. So probably someone of some political power, either here at the Temple or at the Senate would be a logical assumption."

Skywalker's lips firmed before he stared down at the table, while Kenobi started stroking his close cropped beard in thought.

It was Kenobi that added to the evidence next. "A Force user, obviously. Access to the Viceroy and Chairman would be next, though it wouldn't have to be physical as we once assumed. Perhaps knowledge of the conference room or the route we would typically escort prisoners."

I nodded in agreement. "After talking with Jedi Skywalker here, I'm coming to the conclusion that the person we're looking for has connections with Naboo as well."

Kenobi's attention left the windows and sharpened right on me. "Why Naboo?"

"Years ago. Why would the Trade Federation, who we already know was taking orders from the Sith, invade Naboo? Why would a Sith appear at that particular moment in time after all these years? In hindsight we can assume it wasn't solely based on monetary reasons. It has to be connected in some way and it has to be very important to reveal their involvement."

"He didn't just appear on Naboo," Kenobi said. "He first fought Master Qui-Gon Jinn on Tatooine before I encountered him."

This was starting to get irritating. "What was he doing there?"

"Padme," Skywalker said just above a whisper.

Kenobi nodded. "He was sent to assassinate Queen Padme Amidala of Naboo. Our ship was damaged and we acquired parts at Mos Espa, along with a fledgling Anakin Skywalker as well."

Okay. Fine. There is no coincidence. I can only be bashed upside the head so many times before I accept some mystical Force is screwing around with things.

Leaning forward, I rubbed at my face. "Okay, what's all this add up to? Who's benefiting from all this? Did anyone here gain any power, or maybe suddenly added to the Council or something?"

Kenobi eyed Skywalker until it was returned, then the younger Jedi look askance.

"You can't be serious, Obi-Wan!"

At that point I wondered if telepathy was a Force trick as well, but Kenobi dissuaded me from that notion.

"It isn't out of the realm of possibility, Anakin. After all, I did not say a word. You came to the same conclusion I did, and it would explain a number of issues over the years."

Hopeful that they were of like mind I intruded on their interplay. "What conclusion?"

Kenobi turned to me already looking apologetic. "This is only speculation. Due to the volatility of the situation, it is a matter for the High Council. Thank you for your help, Mr. Potter. Anakin?"

They headed toward the door, and I dispelled the charms in the room before leaning back and exhaling a breath of relief.

~O~

"From the ridiculous grin on your face, shall I assume that your meeting with Kenobi was successful?"

Asajj really knows how to make a guy feel welcome when he arrives back on his ship after a long morning. It was almost like being married except for the notable lack of a sandwich waiting for me on the table.

"Hook, line, and sinker."

She looked at me blankly. "I have no idea what you are babbling about."

"You've never fished before?" I waved it away as a silly question. "They bought it. Once I brought up Naboo, they all but jumped on board."

With a confident nod Asajj seemed the tiniest bit relieved. "They immediately suspected Palpatine."

I shrugged. "Well they didn't come right out and say his name, but when I asked who had anything to gain from the invasion of Naboo and topped it off with a mention of politics, that was all that was needed. Kenobi mentioned it being a situation that only the High Council could handle."

When she closed her eyes and released a frustrated breath, I knew that just wasn't enough for her. "You do realize that several people have benefited politically from that skirmish. With my ever failing luck they will probably behead that idiot Jar Jar Binks and declare victory."

Something told me I really didn't want to know, but I asked anyway. "What's a Jar Jar Binks?"

Her eyes fluttered open in annoyance and pinned me with one of her more angry glares. "A Force-blessed incompetent Gungan who is also a Senate Representative from Naboo. He travels with Skywalker and Kenobi's wench Amidala, forever tripping over his own ineptitude at precisely the right moment in time to create the most chaos imaginable… usually to my detriment. I can picture those Jedi congratulating each other with a pat on the back for a job well done by defeating the Dark Lord of the Sith Jar Jar."

Having never even seen a Gungan, I'd have to take her word for that one. "Right, well… give them a chance. Skywalker seemed out of sorts when they figured out what I was trying to tell them."

"Hmph. He's Palpatine's lapdog; I'm not surprised."

"Lapdog," I said warily. "How so?"

"Try turning on the HoloNews whenever they have specials on the life of the Chancellor. They're always side by side at social events, state dinners. It is well known that…" Asajj trailed off with an odd look on her face.

"What?"

"Skywalker… It is well known that Skywalker is the protégé of the Chancellor."

"Why do you have that weird look on your face when you say that?"

Asajj didn't bother to respond and instead started pacing the deck looking deep in thought over that little bit of news. The longer it took for her to say something, the deeper a lead weight started settling in my stomach.

"Are you saying that he's been grooming Skywalker to be his apprentice?"

She stopped and looked at me, trying to decide something. Exactly what? I had no idea.

"My very first assignment from Dooku was to assassinate Anakin Skywalker. He kept throwing me at him over the last few years. Time and again I was the only one talented enough to challenge him. I was someone that was expendable. I never had any delusions of that fact. Until I was officially a Sith I always would be."

Recalling what Asajj told me the previous evening, I nodded. "You think he was testing him like he did you and me."

"Yes. Molding the perfect apprentice from virtually the very first moment they met." When she finally sat down I could see the intense concentration on her face. "I have performed countless hours of research on Skywalker. He was the deciding factor in the Trade Federation's defeat over Naboo. Even so young the Force was with him."

"So, you're saying he's like a Super-Jedi or something?"

I received an angry glare for that one. "One on one there were many times I could have defeated him, but Kenobi was always there making me split my attention between the two of them. During our most recent duels I could feel the anger and frustration from him at not being my equal. I even gifted him with a mark from my lightsaber."

Asajj traced a line above and below her right eye and I was sure that's where Skywalker received that nasty scar.

"The one thing holding him back has always been Kenobi. If not for him Skywalker would have turned to the Dark side, releasing his hatred, giving him the strength to possibly defeat me."

One thing I've never done was underestimate her talent with the lightsabers hooked on her utility belt. I've seen Holovid footage of her fighting both Kenobi and Skywalker at the same time and they aren't as inept as Asajj lets on; she was just that good. For her to say Skywalker could best her in a duel if all he could do was hate her awakened my awareness of just how strong a true Sith could be. That's just their lightsaber skills. What else could they do with that hatred?

I know they could zap people with that freaky blue lighting they call from their fingertips. It might as well be some sort of wandless Cruciatus, if that was possible. I've never had a chance to test my Shield Charm against something that powerful, but I doubted I'd be able to hold it back long, if at all. My idea of popping my head through the Chancellor's door and tossing in some uncontrolled Fiendfyre to solve all our problems didn't reassure me as it should have.

"Maybe we should just cut our losses and go."

Asajj frowned. "Run you mean? Why? The Jedi haven't even had a chance to bungle their advantage as of yet."

"Because I'm not seeing a clean way out of this. Look," I said as a shifted forward to impress my point. "Say that Palpatine is Sidious. The Jedi confront him and since he's as overpowered as you think he is, he wipes the floor with them. What then? You say that Skywalker is walking the edge – and after talking to him face to face I can actually see that. He wasn't exactly the model of patience and stoicism during our meeting. What's to stop them from teaming up?"

She looked at me as if I was blowing the whole thing out of proportion. "You're assuming the entirety of the Jedi Order couldn't bring down two people. Sith or not, they aren't _that_ incompetent."

I shook my head. "No, you're not seeing the big picture here. Palpatine is the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. He's been working this angle for years, possibly decades. You actually think he's going to be pooling all his credits on just one guy?"

"Of course not," Asajj threw back. "He has a massive droid army headed by a competent commander."

With a nod, I conceded that point. "Yeah, but why? There's something that I've noticed about the Temple on my visits over the last few days – the total lack of Jedi around. The place is running bare bones."

Her mouth opened to shoot something else back, but she stopped and actually considered what I was saying. "You think he's thinning them out."

I shrugged. "It could be any number of reasons. How many have died because of this war?"

"What better way to dispose of your enemy and draw attention away from yourself?" she whispered. "We're missing something."

The obvious I assumed. "The triggering event."

"I think that would be apparent; a confrontation."

"With the Confederate fleet on the Outer Rim?" I replied before I remembered something from earlier. "Oh, Kenobi said something was going on with Grievous. He was late to the meeting, because he was with Palpatine."

"Details?" I shook my head and Asajj started getting frustrated. "We need more information."

"We _need_ to get the hell out of here."

Asajj stopped pacing and stared me down. "Do not lose your nerve, Harry Potter."

"Pfft! This has nothing to do with nerve. It has to do with protecting my ass. I've had enough dealing with Dark Lords to last me a lifetime. It was one thing when he was personally screwing around with me by sending those bounty hunters, but this is something different. I'm just a little pawn on his chessboard. My presence doesn't mean anything in the long run."

"What difference does that make?"

"All the difference!" Jerking up off the seat I faced her. "If he was personally coming at me then I'd throw everything I had at him and hope for the best, but I don't _have_ to do that. In the long run I'm nothing in his eyes; a morally ambiguous wild card maybe, and one that's supposedly on his side with this Hand business."

Asajj sighed and ran a hand over her mouth as she turned away. Pacing up to the forward viewport she looked out at the Residence Building. "I've run before. After the Battle of Boz Pity I ran, not knowing what else to do, constantly looking over my shoulder, not knowing what the next day will bring. I want this over with, one way or the other, and then I will disappear, not before."

I was afraid she would say that. If I was younger, there wouldn't be any question about what I would do. I was an idiot back then. Running face first into adventure was part and parcel in being a Gryffindor, but at this point in my life I had a tendency to think things through a little more. It comes with age and experience I suppose.

Leaving her on Coruscant to deal with this by herself was one option. Asajj was the one with the axe to grind after all. I didn't care one way or the other who was in charge of the galaxy as long as they left me alone. Of course that was before I saw that Jedi healer pulling that worm thing out of Gunray. Nobody should die like that; I don't care who they are.

The whole thing had the scent of Evil tagged on the label with a capital E. Walking away from something like that wasn't in me either. There was no two ways about it; I was involved whether I wanted to be or not. That meant I need to do something about the situation or get the hell out of the way, ideally both.

"I'll contact Kenobi and let him know the rest," I said.

Asajj looked back at me, paused for a moment, and nodded.

Rounding the holoprojector I punched up his personal comm number and waited for the connection. It only took a few seconds before he answered.

"Mister Potter, I am in the middle of a meeting with the High Council…."

"Yeah," I said, cutting him off. "I have more information."

"You do? Hold a moment."

Cocking my head to the side I tried to stretch out the tension that was building in my neck, but it wasn't doing much good.

"I have secured this channel," he said. "Are you capable of providing a holopresence?"

I glanced up at Asajj and she was already halfway across the deck, heading toward me. "Uh, yeah. Hold on a second."

Flicking the mute setting I said, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"How else will he take the information seriously? I told you they would argue this subject endlessly before coming to a decision."

With a mild smirk I punched in the proper sequence to show the both of us before going back online.

"Oh dear," Kenobi remarked. "How wonderful to see you again, Miss Ventress. May I assume you are the source of all Mister Potter's amazingly accurate information in regards to the _Invisible Hand's_ location?"

Asajj didn't even crack a smile. "Assume what you wish, Obi-Wan. The Sith you are looking for is in the Supreme Chancellor's office, Darth Sidious. Palpatine and he are the same person."

"We think," I added.

"You think?"

Asajj scowled at me. "I find it rather amazing that you or any of the other supposed Masters of your Order that have visited him in his office have failed to notice all the Sith memorabilia just lying around – on second thought, I don't. This is typical of your kind. Unless an opponent is waving a red-bladed lightsaber in your face, they simply must be an innocent bystander."

Closing my eyes, I cringed. "Do we need to do this right now?"

I was promptly ignored by Kenobi. "It was you that killed Count Dooku."

"It was," she said.

"May I also conclude that you feel over-matched in your vengeance against this particular Sith?"

She scoffed and waved the question away. "Do not make the mistake of underestimating Sidious. He has hidden himself away directly under your very nose for how long now? If only the public was aware of how incompetent the Jedi really are."

"Okay," I joined in. "That's enough. Master Kenobi, I'm washing my hands of this. We've warned you, so do with it what you will. I highly suggest bringing in a couple of dozen of your best people and find out for yourself."

"Suspicion isn't enough to arrest him," Kenobi said.

"Just having the Sith artifacts is enough; you already know this. I suspect that if you go through his things, under the pretext of searching for more, you'll find evidence for the creation of those worm-spawn things. Hell, just holding him for questioning should be more than enough to expose his intentions if he is actually Sidious. He's bound to put up a fight, and now is the time to do it, before he sinks his fingers into Skywalker's brain even further."

Kenobi blinked and Asajj grinned with the small triumph.

"You never realized Palpatine was grooming him, did you, Obi-Wan? Oh, how far the vaunted Jedi have fallen."

The holo connection broke then dissipated as I leaned back. "There. Can we go now?"

Asajj stared up at the ceiling with a satisfied expression. "Be still. I want to remember the look on his face when you revealed Skywalker's part in the plan. Did you notice the slackened jaw and the beginnings of panic in his eyes? This is almost better than seeing him impaled on the end of my lightsaber – not quite, but almost."

With a roll of my eyes I clicked on the comm. "Mikki, we're leaving. Haul your butt up here."


End file.
